These days nearly every student athlete has a Facebook page, and for most kids the content they choose to post is fun, harmless, and safe (Sports Success 360). When kids use Facebook to talk about the events in their lives (including sports), and upload game pictures and video files, the idea of social networking can be a really enjoyable endeavor. Unfortunately, not all kids think through the impact and negative consequences of posting information that others might find offensive and degrading, and as a result run into future problems stemming from the content they posted on their social networking page. When this occurs, coaches begin to question and doubt the leadership style and role modeling abilities of the student athlete.
Facebook and other social networking tools are terrific in many ways – at minimum they give users the freedom to show their personality to the world, and communicate with people they might not otherwise if it weren’t for social networking. Kids usually enjoy sharing their lives with friends, and Facebook allows for so many interesting and unique ways to do just that. Problems can occur, however, when kids don’t think through the ramifications of some of the content they post, as the impressions others develop of them may be compromised if irresponsible content is posted. Consequently, some kids may lose future college athletic opportunities, scholarships, or relationships with others due to poor oversight of their social networking page.
Kids today need to know that many people see their daily activities and sports leadership abilities on social networking pages, even if they are not aware of this. In fact, it is quite common today for college coaches to do Google searches on student athletes they are recruiting, as well as check out their Facebook page. While on-field athletic potential is a big part of earning an athletic scholarship, character plays an equally important part — meaning that a youngster with questionable comments and pictures on his Facebook page will likely lose future opportunities because he is viewed as a “high risk.” While this may not be fair, it is a reality.
If you are a coach, parent, athletic administrator, or student athlete, please keep in mind the following tips when it comes to social networking:
Language. Probably the biggest problem kids have when it comes to Facebook is the graphic and slang language that is often used. While most kids would never speak with coarse language in front of their parents, teachers, or coaches, with Facebook it is easy to use whatever language you want. It should be no surprise, then, that kids often use curse words, controversial and suggestive acronyms, and various other sexual/alcohol/drug references and innuendo. Always keep it clean and stay away from rude language, racist or other stereotypical remarks, or any other comments that portray a negative self image.
Pictures. Similar to language, visual images can cause big problems for kids as well. Again, kids will often post pictures of things they would never want their parents or other adults in their lives to see, including sexually-charged images, drug/alcohol party pictures, hazing, and a variety of additional pictures that most would find to be in poor taste. Be sure that the pictures you post are of good taste and portray you as a responsible and goal driven individual!
Drug/alcohol comments. Many kids think it’s cool to post comments and pictures that reference drugs and/or alcohol. In some instances, blatant pictures and references are posted, while in other examples references are made (like seeing a group of kids cheering with plastic cups that are commonly associated with keg parties). Aside from the fact that it is illegal for kids to use, party pictures will never win over future college coaches when they sit down to examine personality traits pertaining to leadership, responsibility, and decision making.
Bullying/hazing. In some instances kids have been found to post images and written entries pertaining to bullying and hazing on their Facebook pages. This is a very big issue today, as bullying in schools is receiving more attention than ever before. Similarly, hazing is also a big problem and can lead to school and legal consequences. While kids might think it is funny to post pictures of another student athlete being taped to a goal post, or posting threatening messages on their Facebook wall, both of these examples can lead to big problems – as well as future missed college athletic opportunities.
It is vitally important that you comb through your social networking pages and try to look at your page content through another person’s eyes. Would you see things differently? Does your content suggest that you might not have the maturity needed to succeed at the next level? Is there content posted that could come back to haunt you, or possibly lead to family, school, or legal problems? Could some of your content be taken the wrong way, or give the impression to others that you live a wild and out-of-control life? Perhaps most important, does your page accurately show all the good things about you, like your success in the classroom, volunteer efforts, sport success, or other activities you are involved in at school?
It is imperative that parents have access to their child’s social networking pages to ensure appropriate content is being posted. The consequences today are great when it comes to potentially lost or missed opportunities simply because of poorly thought out Facebook posts, making it important to take social networking seriously.
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