I was laying in bed on one of the first days of social distancing scrolling through Twitter, as one does. My Twitter presence has seen a pretty drastic change since high school, especially since a lot of professors in the College of Communication at BU will actually have you tweet about the industry for class as a way to build a professional online presence.
As I scrolled past Globe article after Times article after Post article, I came across a blog post about women in the sports communication field from PRLab at BU, which led me to an article by Britni de la Cretaz called “The Person Running Your Favorite Football Team’s Twitter Is Probably a Woman.”
First of all, this article was a great read. If you’re a gal looking to get into the sports industry, I so so strongly recommend giving it a read. But more importantly, through my little trip down the rabbit hole about women working in sports communication, I found the #smsports community on Twitter.
Finding this group of incredibly kind, smart, and dedicated industry professionals has been one of the best parts of my quarantine social media experience. After going on somewhat of a following spree, my feed is filled with much more funny and relatable content (someone bring back live sports before we all go crazy!) as well as a ton of insights that make me so thankful that I can learn from people who have the careers that I want to aim for one day.
So needless to say, when one user sparked the idea of a #smsports Spring Santa to raise everyone’s spirits, I was over the moon.
Sooo anyone wanna be Pen Pals in this time? Need a break from tech stuff and I low key miss sending real letters…. plus I need something to brighten up only seeing bills 😂
— Erin Hodges (@erinnicoleh_) March 16, 2020
Before I knew it, I was matched up with my gift recipient and ready to spread some cheer. Of course, I had no choice but to send a Boston University men’s basketball Patriot League champions shirt, because if you haven’t heard, we’re a basketball school now.
Just a few days after my 20th birthday (which I celebrated via Zoom) a package arrived from Florida. I had already spoken with my Spring Santa (it turned out she was the same person I was sending the gift to, almost like being pen pals) and I was so excited to have a small moment like that to break up my routine.
It was great to see so many strangers reaching out to each other and going out of their way to brighten each other’s lives, especially in a time when a lot of people are facing so much uncertainty. Over the next week or so, I watched people getting their new sports swag from their Spring Santas, and finally, I got to see my shirt arrive (the only thing better than receiving a heartfelt gift is sending one).
My #smsports Spring Santa (@madisonhedding3) absolutely made my day by sending this @Seminoles shirt! (I had to quickly doodle to show my excitement.)
I miss sports like crazy, but this was a great reminder that the community is always there for you, even if it can’t be IRL. pic.twitter.com/cYrJxgrwMQ
— Morgan Clark (@morgnclark) March 30, 2020
My favorite thing about sports is community, and we’ve proven time and time again that we’re all stronger together. This fun gift swap gave me faith that the communities (in sports and beyond) that I’ve found a home in will always be there for me, even when life gets difficult and things are in the way.
Togetherness doesn’t have to mean that we are together in person, and it’s comforting to know that social media is one of many ways that I can reach out to others in my community when we can’t physically be there for each other.
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