Facebook and Twitter updates helped bring in a crowd of supporters for a winter basketball game.

If you Facebook it, they will come.

Wheaton student-athletes, coaches, administrators and alums are seeing this more and more as they continue to raise the virtual profile of college athletics by using social media.

Just one example: Before students departed campus in December for winter break, the women’s basketball team extended an invitation to the entire campus for an important conference game against Babson College.

In addition to using the college’s in-house email system, posters and flyers, the team relied on every member of its squad to advertise the event through their accounts on Facebook, as well as send out tweets via the team’s handle @WheatonBBall to encourage people to come to the game and wear their Wheaton blue. The athletics department also used social media channels to advertise the event for about a month prior.

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Club sports, intramurals offer fitness and fun

On a quiet Thursday evening, the sound of metal clinking against metal pierces the cavernous Clark Center gym, as two students lunge at each other with swords. Back and forth they go in an athletic dance of grace and aggression that ends with one touching the other with the (covered) tip of a blade.

No worries; it’s all in the name of fun and sport. They are members of the Fencing Club, which is one of a growing number of club sports and intramural activities now being offered at Wheaton to encourage fitness and friendship, as well as mental agility. [Read more...]

Making waves at the Olympics

Nicole Carter ’02, who is a Wheaton assistant coach, also trains Algonquin Regional High swimmer Dorian McMenemy. Their hard work got the swimmer to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where McMenemy competed in the 100-meter butterfly. The 15-year-old represented the Dominican Republic, swam her personal best, was second in her heat, and rode with Michael Phelps—all with Carter cheering her on. We asked the coach about the experience:

Supporting role: I am the head coach at Evolution Aquatics, a swimming program based in Westboro, Mass. Dorian trains with me year-round with our club team. As the head coach, my role is to make sure every athlete gets the training and support they need to succeed. I must create an environment in which athletes are motivated to achieve their goals and constantly evolve in the sport of swimming and in academics. [Read more...]