CELESTE ON SOFTBALL

by Celeste Knierim

What Image Are We Trying to Portray?

I guess I may be getting old, but I do not understand what image young women are trying to portray with their email addresses. I have been putting a lot of email addresses into my files, of high school players around the Midwest, and I just do not understand how they can use some of them. Here are just some of the words used in part of their email addresses:

hot softball sweetie, precious girlie, ____booty,____kicks butt, cutie, blondie, cute babe, blonde bombshell, babygirl, sweetie, blondiebabe, softball hottie, fastpitch qt, and more.

Do those sound professional, even for a high school student?

These players are looking for the best scholarships that they can get from a college or university. As a coach, these would certainly raise a question in my mind about how serious a softball player this person would be if I recruited and spent my scholarship money on her. Is this a player that I would have to worry about breaking the rules of the team? Is this a player who would have her mind on things other than softball, all of the time? Is this a player that I would have to worry about passing their classes? Are their minds actually on portraying themselves as in the above e-mails? Then, I wonder about their parents. Do the parents really approve of their daughters putting “booty” on their email addresses that go out to not only their friends but to colleges and universities? I really have a hard time believing that parents would approve of these addresses unless they don’t know about them, which seems unlikely.

Another thing that I question is their outgoing voice greetings on their cell phones. Most everyone now has a cell phone and most want to personalize their messages with music or greetings, and that’s great. What I question are the types of messages and the types of songs they are using for the greeting. When the songs have lyrics that pertain to sexual innuendos, drugs, killing and things that a young person should not be involved with, I wonder what they are thinking, who they are trying to impress and what Image they are trying to portray. (Plus, some of the greetings go on and on and on with the song. Personally, I don’t have time to listen to a song, especially since I don’t think it is appropriate. Most of the time, we are calling from our cell phones and it also eats up the minutes.) The sad part is that I have heard these types of songs on young coach’s phones also. The coach is supposed to be a role model and lead the team in the right direction— not be one of the kids. But hearing a message that is not professional just tells me that the coach may be too immature to lead anyone.

These are my opinions, and some other coaches may not think this way about the emails and phone greetings. But somehow, I think most of the professional ones will.

For more from Coach Knierim click on Coaches Corner on the JUGS® website.