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surprised how popular it is. The concept is fun, and what a great way to stay in touch with friends. Used innocently, it can be a great way to communicate."

 

To David Birnbaum, co-founder of the high school sports networking site Takkle.com, the sites are really an extension of the communication athletes have always participated in. "If you think about it, sports are the oldest and most powerful form of social networking there is," Birnbaum says. "Athletes have been interacting with rivals and searching for information on their opponents for as long as sports have been played."

 

As a result of the concept’s popularity, new places for student-athletes to connect on the Web are continually popping up. Many of them take the same general format as MySpace and Facebook, offering a place to create personal profiles where users can share photos, keep journals, and send messages to friends. But in the last year, several new sites have emerged that cater specifically to high school and college athletes. These sites allow athletes to share game videos, stats, and team schedules, and connect with teammates and competitors alike.

 

For example, SportsGist.com was founded as a way for fans and athletes to connect and share game video as well as chat with professional athletes and scouts online. MyStack.com, launched in September 2006 for subscribers to Stack magazine, follows the style of MySpace but caters to the high school athlete. Birnbaum’s site, Takkle, went online in December 2006, allowing high school athletes to share videos and join special- interest groups to discuss topics like strength training and pregame stretching.

 

Birnbaum says while some emerging social networking sites try to mimic Facebook and MySpace, the prevailing trend is to think smaller. "A lot of the newer social networking sites that are competing with MySpace are probably going to be short-lived, because try as they might, they’re not going to replace MySpace," he says. "In time, I think the sites that cater to a specific interest will be the successful ones."

 

And both athletes and coaches are starting to find a wealth of positive applications for the niche student-athlete sites, with recruiting at the top of the list. Many sites offer high school athletes the chance to upload profiles of themselves, including statistics and video clips, that can be accessed by college coaches.

 

"This is an opportunity for athletes to showcase their skills on a national stage," Birnbaum says. "It also provides a convenient place for recruiters to find athletes, especially those outside of the major sports who otherwise might not receive that the exposure. We don’t see ourselves as a recruiting site, but we offer the technology for the two groups to access information about each other."

 

New NCAA Division I rules that prohibit coaches from sending text messages to recruits also prohibit communications from a coach to a recruit on social networking sites. But these sites may still be used to share video highlights and statistics, and Division II and III face no such restrictions, at least for now.

Another interesting new site is CareerAthletes.com, which provides college athletes a chance to reach recruiters of another kind—those from the job world. Used by 42 colleges and universities, the site allows student-athletes to build profiles and connect with potential employers and alumni athletes who serve as job mentors.

 

More good news is that many of these up-and-coming sites include a level of oversight not present on Facebook and MySpace. For example, before joining Career Athletes, student-athletes have to register and have their information certified.

 

"There is a qualification page that must be completed, which provides an element of control to the institution by keeping records and dates of athletes’ acceptance of rules regarding student-athlete employment," says Russ Hafferkamp, founder of Career Athletes. "Also, we lay out rules for employers and mentors who use the site. If a bad actor emerges, you can excise them from your site."

 

On Takkle, a "trash talk" section allows athletes the chance to compliment or playfully goad opponents, but Birnbaum says the site keeps strict control over what is said and anonymous posts are not allowed. "We have very rigid terms and conditions, so what they write can’t be abusive," Birnbaum says. "If it is, they’re kicked off the site."

 

While some of the newer, niche sites may be just what administrators have been waiting for, the larger no-holds-barred social sites are still part of the picture, and they must be reckoned with. The majority of the problems arise when student-athletes act in

irresponsible ways on these sites, believing they are in a private arena.

 

The incident at Medfield High School is one prime example. Kirby says he and other administrators were not sure how to handle the online taunting, and it mainly raised awareness of the problem. Eventually Medfield’s league addressed the seriousness of on-line threats with coaches, and the school now educates its student-athletes about the dangers these sites can pose and their liability for what they post.

 

John Johnson, Communications Director at the Michigan High School Athletic Association, says though these incidents may take place from the privacy of the students’ homes and far from the field of play, they should be treated the same as any conduct code violation. "At the end of the day, these online taunting incidents boil down to code of conduct issues, and a number of schools now include references to online behavior in their codes," Johnson says. "Schools are becoming much more consistent in communicating that when you’re a student-athlete, you represent the school everywhere you go, and that includes cyberspace."

 

At McCutcheon High School in Lafayette, Ind., administrators had a slightly different problem to deal with. There, photographs of several athletes making obscene gestures while in uniform popped up on their social networking profiles. The students were each suspended for two athletic contests for violating the school’s conduct code, and Athletic Director Tim Slauter realized a more comprehensive policy was needed. First and

foremost, administrators had to decide exactly what conduct would be deemed inappropriate.

 

"Obviously, situations showing an individual with an alcoholic beverage or illicit drugs or drug paraphernalia are dealt with specifically in our code of conduct," Slauter says. "But beyond that, we were worried about making the policy too specific. Our district’s

attorney warned that it may be difficult to prove a photo hasn’t been altered or that it was definitely the student who wrote something inappropriate, so we left the policy more general. It says that any inappropriate information found through social networking sites would give the athletic department the right to begin an investigation. Then, we will take each situation case-by-case."

 

Other schools have also wrestled with using information from social networking sites to prove that a student-athlete has broken a conduct code. At Turpin High School in Cincinnati, administrators recently received an anonymous package filled with pictures of students misbehaving taken from the students’ own profiles on social networking sites, and Athletic Director Tony Hemmelgarn says he wasn’t quite sure how to respond.

 

"Some places take the stance that if these comments or pictures come in anonymously, you should ignore them or throw them away," Hemmelgarn says. "We worked with our school board and district attorney and decided it’s not right to just look the other way. If you have a picture right in front of you that shows something illegal, it’s impossible to just block it from your mind."

 

At the college level, many athletic departments are curtailing these types of problems by being proactive about the issues that arise from social networking sites. Some schools have forbidden athletes from participating in these sites entirely, but most have instead developed policies for how their student-athletes are allowed to use the tool.

 

At Wake Forest, administrators developed a policy that they’ve included as a section of the athlete’s Pledge of Ethical Conduct and Sportsmanship. It states that no comments or pictures they deem inappropriate may be posted, and that violations can put athletic scholarships in jeopardy. It also reminds athletes that though they may feel the content they post is only for their friends, many others—including potential employers and online predators—also have access.

 

"As a college kid you think you know everything, but hearing from the administration that there is a concern will make you think twice about how you act on these sites," Walker says. "Student-athletes should already know they’re under a tighter watch than the rest of the students—that they have a high level of responsibility to their school and the athletic department. Our policy is mainly designed to let them know there is a concern for them, there is a danger, and they should be careful what they’re posting and who they’re exposing their personal information to."

Walker says the department called on the junior members of its staff for help in deciding the best approach to take. "I think the key to figuring out how to craft a policy is to tap into your younger staff, whether they’re graduate assistant coaches or newly hired administrators who are a year or two out of college," she says. "A lot of times those aren’t the people normally in the meetings where policies are discussed, but they are the ones who understand what’s going on with social networking sites. And because they’re on your staff, you know you can trust them.

 

"Students can also be a big help, so tap into your leadership groups," she continues. "Having a dialogue with them can be very informative, especially for administrators who may be a little bit behind on these technologies."

 

Departments can also use younger or technologically savvy staff members to help enforce policy and keep an eye out for any new sites that pop up. "Even if they don’t set policy, younger staff members can help enforce it and keep the rest of the

administration up to date on what’s changing," Walker says.

 

Whatever policies you consider, Hemmelgarn warns against making them overly restrictive. "There needs to be a better balance between being strict against this kind of online behavior and still encouraging students to become involved in athletics," he says. "For example, you don’t want to give them the death penalty for a first offense. You

want to provide a learning opportunity so they have the chance to make good decisions. You also want them to express themselves, teaching them how to do so within the lines of what’s appropriate."

 

Kathleen "Rocky" LaRose, Senior Associate Athletic Director at the University of Arizona, agrees with Hemmelgarn that you shouldn’t regulate this area too much. "Social networking sites are a part of their social structure, and we don’t feel it’s right to take it away from them," she says. "These sites are not illegal, and they are going to be

part of their lives whether we like it or not."

 

That’s why Arizona stresses education, showing student-athletes how vulnerable personal information can be on social networking sites as well as the repercussions for posting anything inappropriate. "We’re part of an institution of higher learning, and part of our responsibility is to teach students," says LaRose. "They need to experience

things on their own and learn how to make the right choices. For those students arriving this fall, the sites have already been a large part of their lives for quite a few years. But they need to know how to use them appropriately."

 

To stress good behavior, Arizona coaches and administrators show student-athletes the consequences suffered by others who have misbehaved. They pull high-profile examples from other schools where student actions—like posting pictures of parties with alcohol present—have drawn headlines and disciplinary action.

"We tell all of our athletes about the pitfalls of these sites, particularly the trouble student-athletes have gotten into at other schools," LaRose says. "We show them examples of the fallout that’s occurred because of those actions, and we hope that sets an example for them to make the right choices."

 

But the lessons don’t stop there. "We use a multi-faceted approach because we know there’s not one best way to educate everyone," LaRose says. "We talk about it at our welcome back meeting at the beginning of the school year, coaches discuss it in their team meetings, and we keep it on coaches’ minds by having it on the agenda at coaches meetings. The fact that we expect appropriate behavior on social networking sites is always on the forefront, always being emphasized."

 

At Turpin, Hemmelgarn educates his student-athletes (and their parents) about the issue at the preseason meeting. "We have meetings before the season and talk about this with the athletes and their parents," Hemmelgarn says. "We let them know the kinds of things that have been done before by kids and the trouble that can result. We also let them know exactly what the consequences are if they break the rules.

 

"But we temper that statement by explaining we’re trying to create a positive environment," Hemmelgarn continues. "You want to help students learn for themselves, and we let them know we’re in this together. We remind them how much they love participating in their sport, how much time and effort they put in to get to the level

they’re at, and what a shame it would be if one bad decision took that away."

 

 

 

Sidebar: CHECKS & BALANCES

While it may be difficult, even impossible, to find a student-athlete unfamiliar with how social networking sites work, there may be members of your staff who do not know MySpace.com from Takkle.com from e-mail. For a policy or department stance on social networking sites to be effective, you must educate all coaches and staff members about the popularity and pitfalls of this communication tool.

 

"You’re really exposed as a department if you don’t have checks and balances in place," says Barbara Walker, Senior Associate Athletic Director at Wake Forest University. "You need to start with the coaches and make sure they’re aware of what’s taking place on these sites, because they’re the key element to a policy being successful.

 

"When we first heard about Facebook, we took it to a coaches’ meeting, and like me, many of them had never even heard of it," she says. But rather than just telling coaches about the sites, Walker says, Wake Forest decided to show them. Wake Forest athletes’ pages were printed, including some with questionable comments and pictures, to make coaches aware of what was going on and dismiss the old adage, "It couldn’t happen here."