BATON ROUGE -- Members of the LSU women’s basketball team completed the first of two media training seminars on Thursday in an effort to enhance the communication skills of the Lady Tigers on the court and off the court.
Dr. Shirley White of the Cox Communications Academic Center For Student-Athletes directed the one-hour session. The program is part of the Shaquille O’Neal CHAMPS/Life Skills program to prepare student-athletes for the challenges of life beyond the court.
“Communication is key in everything we do with our team and beyond basketball,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “We feel this program is important in the development of our players not only on the court but off of it. When a player is in public or being interviewed by a member of the media, they are not only representing themselves but their families, teammates and LSU.”
White spoke on several key points to a good interview with the media, including eye contact, posture, appearance, the tone and volume of a message and the content of that message. The qualities affect the overall brand and image of a student-athlete and how they represent her team and LSU.
According to White, 55 percent of the effectiveness of a spoken message is visual, 38 percent is vocal and seven percent is verbal or the content of that message. White conducted mock interviews with the student-athletes, including senior guard Allison Hightower.
“Opportunities like this give us a chance to learn a little bit more about ourselves and the team,” said Hightower, a 2010 National Player of the Year candidate. “All of us can be better communicators to improve our image. We learned a lot about how to speak to the media. Not many schools around the country get this kind of opportunity.”
In addition to the media training, White’s presentation touched on the importance of communication when a student-athlete’s playing days are over. Much of what the Lady Tigers learn today are skills that carry over to acquiring a job once their playing days are complete.
“The whole idea of being a good communicator is important,” White said. “If you are a good communicator, than you can succeed in any path you take after college.”
With the emergence of today’s social media world, White addressed the proper ways to maintain Facebook, My Space and Twitter accounts for such a high-profiled student-athlete. The etiquette tips focused on gearing one’s site to what a future employer might see in a job interview.
Media training has been given a special emphasis this year within the LSU Athletics Department under Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics Joe Alleva. The Lady Tigers will participate in part two of the seminar next week.
