Norfolk, Va. -- Over 100 Monarch freshmen student-athletes were in attendance last Wednesday night for the annual social media training seminar presented by the Old Dominion University Student-Athlete Development Team. The event featured guest speaker LaChina Robinson, a prominent college basketball and WNBA analyst and reporter for ESPN.
Robinson, a former Wake Forest women’s basketball student-athlete, engaged students in conversations regarding the importance of branding themselves in a positive light and the power of social media. Students first completed an exercise where they were instructed to come up with three words that they felt best illustrated themselves and walked through how an individual’s perception of themselves may be vastly different than the perception of their peers.
Throughout the evening, Robinson provided several case studies on situations illustrating the idea that “perception is reality” and covered case studies such Allen Iverson’s infamous “we talkin’ about practice” speech.
“What you put out for people to see is how they will see you and from that they will develop their own assumption of your character, whether you may mean it that way or not,” noted freshman football player Cameron Washington. “It’s important because if an employer was to see that negative post as their first impression and they have another candidate that has a clean social media site, the employer may be more likely to take the other candidate because there will be less of a character risk.”
Later in the evening, students performed an exercise where they analyzed each other’s social media accounts to identify what their accounts may portray to outsiders. Robinson emphasized the importance of teammates and friends holding each other accountable.
“I thought the activity was a lot of fun because it made us think about how we should be careful about what we post. It made even more aware to be careful about my posts because my posts reflect who I am,” freshman rower Jillian Moran reflected.
Towards the end of the presentation, Robinson closed with the importance of branding leadership and the value of these qualities later in their careers as student-athletes as they prepare for life after athletics.
Freshmen golfer Kyle Reid took a lot away from the experience. “I learned that the way you might think your social media page might look might be completely different from the public’s view of your page so you must be aware of how your posts will come across before making them public. This is especially important once I start applying for jobs and internships, “ said Reid.
The next event on the ODU Student-Athlete Development Team calendar will take place Nov. 7 at the Ted Constant Center when they host the Career Combine for all junior and senior student-athletes.