College Recruiting & Social Media

It seems that every high school and college student-athlete is using some form of social media almost constantly.  With the advent of smart phones, it is easier now than ever before to communicate and share opinions and thoughts.  With this greater opportunity comes a greater responsibility to be wise.  

If a high school athlete desires to have as many good scholarship options as possible, then it is important that they are wise in their social media use.  For college athletes, if they want to have as many good employment options as possible, then they need to be responsible when they post to their social media accounts.  

I recently presented at the Indiana High School Athletic Association’s Student-Athlete Leadership Conference.  My topic was social media and college recruiting.  The bottom line is that the choices we make today will shape our tomorrows.  What do we want our tomorrow to look like.  We each have a brand.  We each have a story to tell about ourselves.  What are we going to tell the world?

Here is the power point presentation that we used at the conference…

• Power Point Presentation

Links to useful articles…

• Twitter Tips for Division I Athletes (from Tennessee’s Assistant AD, Tom Satkowiak)
• Football Star Loses Scholarship Over Racist Tweets
• Think Before You Post
• Socially Responsible Coaches and Student-Athletes Learn
• Social Media Twitter Feed
• 9 Social Media Do’s and Don’ts
• How Social Media Behavior Can Negatively Affect Recruiting

Jamy Bechler is the athletic director at Marion HS and a certified John Maxwell leadership coach, speaker and trainer.  You can contact him at Jamy@CoachBechler.com.  You can also subscribe to his leadership newsletter by clicking here.