I hear a lot that "we have to promote ourselves so that we can get jobs," and although it makes sense, who will hire us based on our social media? Here is my take on social media as a strength and conditioning coach.
The other day I had an athlete on the softball team hit 355 for two on a box squat with ease. Her depth wasn't great, but neither are my boxes. I ordered new ones from elitefts as soon as I got this job. I knew her depth wasn't going to be at or below parallel, not due to her being immobile, but because these aren't great boxes. Some of my athletes are losing depth, but this is something on day one of box squats I let them know isn't a concern to me. I'm not a judge at a powerlifting competition, and we aren't training for the Olympics, so our focus is to increase weight and bar speed—we are training power which should always be the case.
After she hit those great numbers, I had other ladies (regardless of box height) get empowered and inspired to hit heavier weights. Some of these weights were to great depth, and others were to okay depth, but they got the job done regardless. The coaches were pumped up and posted videos to social media while I chose not to. I decided not to because I did not want to make it all about me and deal with strength coach Twitter (SCT). Those sorry bastards.
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Those of you who don't know, SCT are the gurus and messiahs of the virtual strength world. I'd say real world, but they don't accredit any of us or pay our bills, so their powers truly only derive through the keyboard. I know there are no doctor Twitter gangsters because most of those doctors have real jobs and can't waste time tweeting about the malpractices of other doctors. But I didn't post the video truthfully due to fear of the SCT gang.
An hour after she got done with the lift, I received a text from our AD congratulating me on my work with the team. I was truly blown away because in 10+ years, that is the first time an AD has ever texted me personally to congratulate me on my work. And where did he see that? On Twitter! The irony was I was worried about being judged by the SCT gang, but the person who did see the coach's tweet in all actuality matters a little more than them.
Social media has a delicate balancing act of promoting yourself for good means and seeking attention that you're not getting for whatever reason. I've been there. I used to look for attention through social media. Then I lost everything, and I also lost my need to impress people who never really helped me anyway. They weren't there when I was jobless, and they didn't care, so why in the actual f*%k would I care if they liked a picture of mine?
I know I'm good at my job. Who's validation do I ever need or want outside of my own and that of my family (to some extent). I stopped buying into the BS that the SCT gangsters were wheeling and dealing with because, truthfully, after taking a step back, I realized how pathetic I was for being like them. I had real friends, a real job, and a real-world to live through.
Yes, you can say that my AD congratulated me based on something he saw on social media, except that prior to working here, we didn't follow each other. In fact, I don't think one AD follows me on social media, which means unless you're gunning for an assistant spot, social media gang wars and self-promotion isn't helping very much.
I've never been hired based on social media (to my knowledge) and most likely won't ever be. Social media is another platform for entertainment and fun, and I do my best to keep it that way and show off pics my family can see.
We shouldn't stress about stuff that doesn't matter. Social media shouldn't drive anxiety into our veins or give us serious cases of FOMO. It's okay. Not everything needs to go to social media, and not everyone needs to know your every single move or see every single lift.
I still haven't posted the video of the athlete, mainly because I DON'T HAVE TO. She saw herself dominate that lifting session, I saw it and that's all that matters. Sometimes it's okay to keep the precious moments and memories to yourself. People (believe it or not) were getting jobs long before social media, and they will continue to get jobs after them. In all of the predictions Nostradamus made that came true, none were about strength coaches getting jobs through their Twitter pages.
Donald Day is the Director of Olympic Sports at Murray State University. He joined the Racers after being Assistant Strength Coach at Arizona. Donald holds a CSCCA with the S.C.C.C (Strength Conditioning Coaches Certification), USAW, and Precision Nutrition certification. He and his wife Brianna reside in the western part of Kentucky with their dog Fritz.
