AS WE NEAR the halfway mark for 2012, the 'Social Media' phenomenon is as popular as ever with kids and adults. I stalled as long as I could but a few years ago my older sister talked me into creating a Facebook page and Twitter account. Now, three years later I find myself using both Twitter and Facebook on a daily basis.
 
With Facebook you can pick and choose who you want to be friends with but you can’t dictate what your “Friends” write and reveal; as anybody with a Facebook page knows sometimes people reveal way too much info about what’s going on in their lives.
 
These days everybody is on facebook including police investigators, divorce lawyers, private investigators and school administrators. People are getting busted for stuff they post or others post on facebook. Husbands cheating on wives, business men committing fraud, sexual predators, etc.
 
And then there’s high school athletes.

Recently, Lindenhurst a school from Section XI on Long Island made a road trip to Rochester to play Penfield.
 
Ten Lindenhurst boys lacrosse players have learned the hard way if you’re doing something you shouldn’t be doing don’t post it on Facebook.

They were hit with three-day school suspensions and a one-game suspension after officials learned from the social network that they drank alcohol from Gatorade bottles during their trip to Rochester, Newsday reported.

The incident happened on the bus trip back to Long Island after a 12-11 loss to Penfield, the paper reported. The students, who range in age from 16 to 18, also were barred from playing or practicing for four days.

"They were not drunk," Lindenhurst Superintendent Richard Nathan said. "It was discovered because they self-reported. They bragged about it on Facebook."

Nathan said the district will have a new athletic code of conduct this fall. Work on the new policy began late last year.  Nathan said the team's coaches were on the bus but not aware that the students were drinking. The coaches confronted the athletes as soon as they learned what had happened.

Of greater importance  to the students than the punishment, Nathan said, was the district's decision, after the incident, to bring in teenage speakers to talk to the team about their own experience with alcohol abuse and addiction.

"I have been told it was extremely powerful and made more of an impact that not letting them play or not allowing them to attend school," Nathan said.

The students were upset by the punishment but also angry with themselves for betraying their coach, he said. The team has become a stronger unit as a result of the experience, Nathan said.

However it’s not just the student athletes

ANOTHER EXAMPLE COMES from Tennessee where a mother of two star offensive linemen inadvertently forced their team to vacate three victories from earlier in the 2011 football season. According to the Nashville Tennessean, Perry County (Tenn.) High offensive linemen Rodney Belasic and Ryan Belasic  transferred to the school from Henry County (Tenn)  high, where they spent the earlier seasons in  their high school career.

However, that transfer has now been rejected after Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association officials learned that the entire Belasic family does not reside in Perry county, a prerequisite for eligibility in the state

How did the TSSAA find out about this?

The Belasics’ mother scolded them on Facebook for not cleaning their room! She posted on her facebook page that she sent the kids back to Perry county for the week and that she would not see them again till Friday night; then later on her Facebook page she posted “How can two boys mess up their room as badly as they do when their only here on Saturday and Sunday?”

That comment about living there on Saturday and Sunday tipped the TSSAA off to the Belasics’ dual residence, and after a brief investigation. The organization learned that the Belasics’ mother still worked and resided in Henry County.

Because part of the family was still residing their original district it was ruled that the players were ineligible to play for Perry County.

Perry County was forced to forfeit its three opening victories, the Perry County players were able to keep the stats they accumulated in those victories, despite the fact that they won’t count on the teams official won-lost record.  

Still those personal records don’t change the fact that this team would have been 5-0 and well on its way to one of the top seeds in Tennessee’s smallest division, class 1A , If not for one mother who resorted to social networking to scold her sloppy teenage sons.

 And it’s not just players and parents, it’s coaches too.

Just days after the start of the 2011-12 winter season, Island Trees Coach Andy Schneider was in hot water over what appears to be a Facebook fracas.

Parents, athletes and staff members spoke at the school board meeting in support of Schneider, formerly the girls soccer and basketball coach at Island Trees. Schneider remains employed as a physical education teacher in the district.

According to Yahoo.com's Rivals sports site, here's the chronology of events that led to his removal from the bench:

   • After Newsday announced its All-Long Island soccer team late last fall, Schneider posted a message saying one of his players had superior stats and was more worthy than a Levittown Division player who was selected to the team. Some Division players saw his post, and it wasn't long before students from the two schools, located in close proximity in Nassau County, were yapping at each other in online exchanges.

  •  At that point, Schneider apparently immersed himself further into the situation by communicating with some of the Division players via more Facebook postings, Rivals reported. Though the coach's supporters contend Schneider was trying to cool down the sparring, Division parents felt he was out of line by communicating with students in the online forum.

   • Acting on a complaint lodged against the coach, the Island Trees school board removed him from coaching. Board President Patricia Mahon said at the board meeting she could not discuss particulars because of confidentiality restrictions and because there is pending litigation, Rivals reported.

When social media and bad behavior collide

And then there’s Twitter ... If only Yuri Wright had subscribed to the "don't mess with it if you don't understand it" philosophy.

His failure to do so has forced one of the nation's top high school football prospects to trade down from the likes of the up-and-coming Michigan Wolverines to the Colorado Buffaloes.

Wright, a defensive back from New Jersey regarded as a four-star recruit by several services, had narrowed his finalists to Michigan, Notre Dame, Rutgers, and Colorado before the recruiting process blew up due to self-inflicted mistakes that led to him being expelled from Don Bosco Prep in Mid January.  

Wright had recently played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio when it came to light that stuff he was posting on his Twitter account would make Richard Pryor blush. That left his coach -- New Jersey legend Greg Toal -- and school administrators with little choice but to give Wright the boot.

Toal told ESPN that players were warned repeatedly to stay away from social media sites if they were going to talk trash -- or talk trashy.

"We told them about 10 or 15 times to get off (Twitter) and not to be involved in it, but there is always somebody who thinks he knows better." he said. "What he wrote was pretty bad to be honest with you, I can't even say what he wrote."

Wright has since deleted the account, which had more than 1,600 followers. With interest from several suitors having dried up, he committed to Colorado in early February.

Those are prime examples of the negative effects social media can have on student athletes. Whether you’re an athlete, a parent or coach you have to be careful what you type because it can have a lasting effect, not only with you but your teammates, co-workers, family or players.

Social media is a very powerful tool that we have today, when used right, it can be very good.

But as you can see with these example, it can also be very damaging.

You have to know when to post, and know when to fold 'em ...