Pro Athletes Promote Charities

Being a celebrity has many perks, including the money, fame, and overall opportunities. Because celebrities are so popular and have large fan bases, it is easy for them to get word out quickly to large amounts of people. This celebrity approach has been beneficial for advertising and promotions. But some celebrities and famous athletes aren't all about the attention, and use their fame to help others. Charity work and 'giving back' has become very important in today's society and many people get involved in this practice.

One of the most popular things going around the internet this past summer (2014) was the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. The challenge included recording a video of you pouring a bucket of ice water over your head and nominated a few of your friends to do the same, upload the video to social media, and nominating new friends, all within 24 hours. If the challenge wasn't complete, they were to donate $10 to the ALS association. This challenge quickly went viral across the nation, as people tagged more and more people.  My university volleyball team was nominated by one of our opponents, Missouri State, to complete the challenge. Check it out by clicking this link:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=931374916889454

Many other famous athletes got involved with the hype:


The best thing about today is that its easy to get news and information out quickly. Social media has been these athlete's main source of communication to make people aware of these organizations. Promoting their foundations and providing links on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter creates quick access and informs their fans and society about these types of foundations and events.




Some of the most commonly known foundations include United Way, American Cancer Society, and American Red Cross. The following are some of the most successful and well-known athletes who are considered top contributes to charities and foundations of their own:





Tiger Woods created a charity to help young adults pursue their dreams through scholarships, grants, and a Tiger Woods Learning Center for students to learn at.

http://www.tigerwoodsfoundation.org/ 







Serena Williams established the Serena Williams Foundation to provide assistants to youth whose family's have been crime victims and created programs for counseling these children.
 http://www.theserenawilliamsfoundation.org/aboutus.htm

David Beckham has contributed to many charities include being an Ambassador of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children  http://www.nspcc.org.uk/

LeBron James established the LeBron James Family Foundation which was created to support children by promoting healthy lifestyles and education.
http://lebronjamesfamilyfoundation.org/

Twitter Fuss: Bloomsburg University Baseball vs. Mo'ne Davis

Another popular Twitter controversy has risen this past week. According to Sports Illustrated, a student-athlete at Bloomsburg University has been kicked off the baseball team after posting an insensitive tweet. Joey Casselberry, a sophomore baseball player posted the following tweet about Mo'ne Davis, a girl that has recently been publicized with success in the Little League World Series:

In the summer of 2014, 12 year old Mo'ne Davis became the first girl to pitch a shut out in the Little League World Series. Recently, the Disney Channel network that they will be producing "Throw Like Mo", an original movie about Davis' life as a baseball teen. Soon after the announcement of this movie, Joey Casselberry published his tweet that went viral quickly. The University took action immediately  and they also turned to Twitter to apologize to the public.

Bloomsburg Univ is deeply saddened by what was written about #MoneDavis by one of our student-athletes. His words do not represent us.
— BU Huskies (@GoBUHuskies) March 21, 2015

We take matter very seriously; addressed the issue with the student-athlete (who has been dismissed from team), coach, and the team.
— BU Huskies (@GoBUHuskies) March 21, 2015

Despite being a star athlete on the baseball field, Mo'ne Davis hopes to play college and professional basketball. With these goals, she felt bad that Casselberry was revoked from the team. Davis and her coach actually emailed the University asking that Casselberry could be re-admitted on the team. She wrote,

"He made one dumb mistake. I'm sure he would go back and change it if he could. We all make mistakes and deserve to be forgiven. I hope you will give him a second chance and allow him to play."

The University has since state that they respect Davis's concern, but will support their previous decision and keep Joey Casselberry off the team.

In his public apology, Casselberry includes that his tweet is "an example that one stupid tweet can ruin someone's life.."

Social Media During March Madness

Who do we play? What's their record? Where are they from? What are they ranked? Who's their best player? 

These are all common questions during March Madness that can be answered literally at the tip of your finger. With the NCAA Tournament getting underway this weekend, social media conversations have sky rocketed. No longer do you have to tune into the television in hopes of catching details about your favorite team or players. People across the nation turn to their phone to search Google, Twitter, Facebook and many other sites to stay updated on what's happening in the college basketball world. Social media is all about current updates and can provide viewers with scores, stats, and predictions. According to the NCAA, 7.7 million social media comments were made about the tournament already. 88% of people use their cell phones to access March Madness information. .

This past week I traveled from Iowa to Florida. Throughout my trip, college basketball was a conversation I commonly overheard. I saw multiple people checking their phones and updating brackets. I even checked Twitter using a "Tweets in the Area" feature and saw that hundreds of people were constantly tweeting about the current games. Laying out on the beach, I was able to check Twitter to see what people were saying about games and who won through accounts like @SportsCenter and @NCAA. 

One of the coolest things about social media during March madness is connecting with the players. Going to a university that is currently in the dance, I've gotten to see first hand the interactions taking place. Fans wishing players luck and congratulating them on wins. Athletes tweeting back thanking their supporters and posting other words of determination and assurance to their fans that they're ready to play. All of which people wouldn't be able to see before social media.

Google Trends is an online feature to see what people are searching about. On the first day of March Madness, "NCAA Brackets" and "March Madness" we're #2 and #3 in the list of most searched on Google for the day with over 1 million searches each. 

Finally, Facebook generated a completed bracket solely based on social media mentions of teams and released it days before the tournament:

A Day in the Life: UNI Volleyball Player

After posting a few blogs about collegiate and professional athletes across the nation and how they are portrayed on social media, I thought I would change it up this week.

As a collegiate athlete myself, I also wanted to take the opportunity to use my blog as a platform to connect to friends, family, and fans. A lot of people only see college or professional athletes during games or through sports media, but they don't know what all goes on behind the scenes. For this blog, I'll be taking you through a few of my typical days.

The college volleyball season is typically the entire fall semester of school while off season workouts begin right after winter break and continue up until we start back up in August for the next season. This time of year we are focusing a lot of strength, conditioning, and mental focus to improve our game come fall.



Off-season day- March 5, 2015:
5:35 a.m.- I wake up to my alarm before the sun rises 3 days a week during the spring semester. I go through my daily morning routine before heading to the gym.
6:05 a.m.- For the next 1.5-2 hours the team and I work on a lot of body strength and technique. Our strength coach puts us through a variety of exercises or runs to work our muscles in different ways. These exercises include things like one-legged squats, uneven push-ups, hand-stands, and running stairs.
8:00 a.m.- After the workout, the team and I head to the cold tub to help our muscles recover. We then head back to our locker room to shower and get ready for our day.
9:45 a.m.- Back at home, I usually take some time to eat breakfast and catch up on some social media from the night before. I'll then have the opportunity to take a quick nap. Being an upperclassmen, I've been lucky to have a more flexible schedule that allows me to do this.
10:30 a.m.- I have sectioned off this hour and a half block to study and catch up on homework.
12:00 p.m.- I make myself a quick lunch and pack my bag for the rest of the afternoon
12:30-1:45 p.m.- Accounting class.
1:45 p.m.- From my class, I walk directly to the gym to quickly get ready for our team practice.



2:15-4:15 p.m.- Volleyball practice
4:30 p.m. - I head to the locker room to shower and if I have time, study a little before my class.
5:30 p.m.- 8:15 p.m. - Night class
8:30 p.m.- Back at home, I will make dinner and socialize with my roommates for awhile, update my social media for the day.
10:30 p.m.- I head to bed, as I have another early morning the next day

The days in the off season can get very long but they are rewarding. This time of year its fun to see your team grow together and accomplish things as a whole. Every day brings new challenges and every day is another opportunity to prepare for the upcoming season.

During the fall semester, our schedules are very different than during the off-season. This past fall, I had a busier class schedule and we did a lot of traveling.  Below, I'll take you through a typical Friday when we have a home game.

In-season day - A Typical Game Day:
8:00 a.m.- Wake up and do morning routine, eat breakfast
9:00-9:50 a.m. - Marketing class
10:00-10:50 a.m. - Accounting class (You can guess how hard it is to focus in back to back classes on game days!)
11:00 a.m. - noon - Study table (organized time that we turn our phones into the coach's office and strictly study for the amount of time scheduled that day)
12:15 p.m.- Back at home I'll make lunch and just relax for a couple hours.
3:00 p.m.- Start getting ready for the game and pack my bags and head to the gym
4:00 p.m. - Get to the locker room and hang out with teammates, some of us have to get pregame therapy such as ankle taping or stretching exercising in the training room.
5:00 p.m.- Watch film and go over scouting report of the other team
5:30 p.m.- Head to the court for a pre-warm up practice. We some basic things like serving, ball control, and going through each rotation's offense.
6:00 p.m.- Get pumped up for our match in the locker room with music and other routines
6:15 p.m. - Head out to the court to start our official warm-ups as the stands begin to fill with fans.
7:00 p.m. - The first serve marks the start of the match and we play best 3 out of 5
9:00 p.m. - We discuss how the match went, and head back out to talk with fans and family. Our trainers also suggest that we go to the cold tub to recover for another match the following day and then shower
9:30 p.m. - Most of us go out to eat with our parents at a restaurant in town so that we can spend time with our family while they are still in town.
10:30 p.m.- Lights out to get enough rest for Saturday's match.


One of the ways I like to use social media during the season is to promote our games. I have followers on my Twitter and Instagram sites that are UNI Volleyball fans. From classmates, friends, and even younger kids who have attended our games or camps. Instagram and Twitter have helped us players raise awareness about our home matches as well as creating a way to share some of my favorite pictures from out games.