It seems like it was just yesterday in many ways, but there are certain things I definitely remember as a track and field athlete. Throwing lots of items, lifting tons of weights and doing burnouts with Dad in our garage at home (probably to this day my toughest workouts ever!), and traveling around the US and seeing various colleges.
I retired from track in 2006 as a 4x All-American and USC School Record Holder in the shot put
Even when I was a track and field athlete, I was still very engaged and active with new media. I was one of only athletes who had a personal website and created my own newsletter I sent out via email called Kmail. While Twitter had not been launched yet and Facebook was still in its infancy stages when I was competing, there were still discussion boards, blogs, and other websites dedicated to communicating and sharing information and opinions.
Competing for Florida at the 2003 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships
I had the great opportunity to be a guest panelist again this week on the show “The Crisis Show” with Rich Klein, Melissa Agnes, and Jonathan Bernstein. This week’s show focused on a range of crises currently happening, but I was brought on board to discuss the issue of athletics and social media.
It was reported several universities were monitoring student-athlete tweets for particular words, but many other universities are doing this as well. Oregon just created their Quack Cave to monitor what is going online and in social media – so this is becoming a trend in collegiate athletics. While it is very important to look for early warning signs and extreme cases, there are some things we can all take away from this current development from a social media perspective.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM2upYZBJ7I&feature=plcp[/youtube]
However, as I mentioned on the show – universities have monitored what student-athletes have said both in person and online for many years. I competed for both Florida and USC in track and field – while both universities have great athletic and academic programs, they had different views for having student-athletes having a presence online.
The ideal situation would surround education when it comes to social media practices for athletes. Holding workshops, having an active conversation with student-athletes, and encouraging a partnership with faculty who are teaching social media classes at the university as well.
Student-athletes are students and will eventually become alumni and enter into their professional career after graduation. While there are some athletes that continue on and go pro, many athletes do not. Having a presence in social media as an athlete will help give them hands on training managing their reputation, engaging in conversation with fans as well as those who have opposite views, and to conduct themselves professionally in the media.
In my personal experience, I gained a lot of experience and learned some valuable lessons from being active as a student-athlete online. By having a voice on social media, I also got several opportunities that really opened doors for me professionally. This experience helped shape me into the person and professional I am today. The most important and priceless brand anyone can manage and protect is their own. This experience will transfer into any situation, business, and organization.
Hope you all are having a great day.
Best Wishes,
Karen
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