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@RainRainGoAway

Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 7:10 PM CDT

#Local_teams_turn_to_social_media_to_get_out_postponement_information

BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com

When the postponements of Tuesday's District 8-5A softball and baseball games came out Monday night and Tuesday morning, some of the information still traveled the typical route of texting, email and even phone calls.

But the bulk of teams used social media sites like Facebook and Twitter as their avenue to alert players, parents, friends and fans of the new schedule.

"I like to use Twitter for stuff like that," said Rick Robertson, Plano Senior baseball head coach. "For me, it's easier than texting everyone and it's a lot more open and a lot more back and forth."

Plano West softball head coach Mike Ledsome concurred.

"I like using social media for things about our team because it's fast and can get the message out to more people than you usually would," he said. "Obviously you still have to be careful with Twitter and Facebook, but they are nice tools to have."

Plano East and West softball announced the postponements via their Twitter feed.

"I think texting is still my favorite way to go because I can send out mass texts to the girls, our school administrators and whoever else might need to know what's going on with the team," said Karen Kalhoefer, East softball head coach. "But I always send the information to our website manager too so he can post it online and tweet it out."

Twitter isn't the lone social media route teams follow.

"Our Home Run Club has a Facebook page," said Paul Coe, Allen baseball head coach. "We also use our booster club's website; those are the main avenues we communicate through."

Plano softball has a Facebook presence as well with the fan page's administrator, usually booster club president Stephanie Velasquez (mother to senior outfielder Mackenzie), posting intensely detailed live comments during nearly every one of the team's games.

"We started the Facebook page last year," said Cynthia Zea, Plano softball head coach. "And it was just an amazing tool to have, especially during our playoff run. There were teachers who couldn't get out of school or grandparents that live out of town that couldn't be at the games, but everyone is on the web now so this way all those people could go to the Facebook page, get play-by-play and virtually watch the game online."

While these squads engage in social media for team information, that doesn't necessarily mean all the head coaches are big fans.

"I don't have a Facebook account and I couldn't tell you how to do it," Coe said. "I have no clue, but I'll fax along the information to the booster club president and they'll relay the info from there."

Robertson is another one who does social media mainly for team business.

"I'm not sure how many other people would really want to follow me on Twitter," he said with a chuckle.

But not every 8-5A baseball and softball team is on the social media bandwagon.

"We usually post our information on the school's athletic website or via mass email," said Debbie Evans, Allen softball head coach. "We discussed creating a Facebook page before the start of the season, but nothing really happened there."

Allen softball isn't alone in that realm.

"We definitely still use the website, mass emailing and texting the most right now," said Don English, West baseball head coach. "But I'll bet Facebook and Twitter are right around the corner for us."

That decision has been a beneficial one to the other teams in the district.

"Getting involved (with social media) has been incredible for us," Zea said. "We have gotten nothing but positive feedback from it."

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