Social media sites impact young athletes

Student+Kennedy+Andrews+uses+Hudl+to+watch+film+from+previous+games.+Coaches+encourage+their+players+to+watch+game+film+on+Hudl.+

Student Kennedy Andrews uses Hudl to watch film from previous games. Coaches encourage their players to watch game film on Hudl.

The internet has brought many young athletes at Yutan High School opportunities that are not always easy to get. From attracting colleges’ attention to watching scouting videos, sports websites and social media sites have helped out athletes in all sorts of directions. 

Hudl, for example, is a prominent website that provides tools for coaches and athletes to review game footage. This has helped athletes get recruited for colleges, and it has helped them watch previous games that they have played. 

“I’ve gotten a lot of exposure on Hudl from college coaches. I’ve gotten many offers from people and coaches watching my Hudl account and my film that I was able to post on social media,” senior volleyball player Haley Bedlan said. 

Along with Hudl, other websites like MaxPreps also contain film for players’ games, and it has helped these athletes to learn from their mistakes and improve themselves as players. 

“They’ve helped me watch what I’ve done wrong in games, and they’ve helped me reach out to college coaches more,” junior Laycee Josoff said. 

Not only do sports websites help athletes get recognition, but social media sites help them to learn more about their sport and about other teams and players. They give athletes background information about other teams with how their seasons are going too. 

“I go on Twitter to learn about who won in different high school sports because that’s usually the best thing, and I just like to follow different Instagram accounts for basketball,” senior basketball player Ben Denly said. 

Outsiders also get the chance to see when and where games are within these sports websites and social media. This brings on more fans to the games, and it makes the players more excited to play. 

“It does bring more people to watch us, and those people that come watch us give us more excitement and could potentially make us play better,” Bedlan said. 

Other sites are just for fun.  While Hudl and other websites help athletes improve their skills, Barstool keeps these athletes laughing and interested in their sports. 

“I enjoy seeing funny stuff on different social media, and Barstools can be really funny sometimes,” Denly said. 

Whether used for college recruiting, scouting, or just entertainment, sports websites are helping athletes improve and better themselves.