To the general public, Media Day is known as a day to just ‘take pictures’ of the athletes and team, but to the athletes, Media day holds so much importance. Students playing high school sports are usually striving to play their sports at the collegiate and professional levels and get recognition. Media day allows serious athletes to showcase themselves to coaches and schools.
Media day helps with team promotion. Some school sports aren’t as recognized as others. For example, football games are always made a big deal in high schools with spirit-themed games and tailgates. However, some sports get less recognition like volleyball. Usually, these sports are girls’ sports, and this is because for so many years female sports have been overlooked. As times are changing so are women’s sports, there is now a professional women’s volleyball league. If the sports that are evolving do not get enough recognition in high school, the athletes will not be encouraged to continue their sports. Having a team media day allows them to post gamedays to help gain school support and boost morale.
Media days also help recognize the athletes, teams, and coaches’ hard work and dedication to the programs. The pictures can be used to highlight the team and players’ achievements and milestones throughout the season. In many situations, high school students do not understand how much work these student-athletes truly do. Having their accomplishments displayed for their peers shows how much it takes to play sports in high school.
For student-athletes interested in being recruited to play in college, media day can be a huge help. “Media day helps us with recruitment and allows scouts to know our faces when they come out to our games,” says Coral Glades varsity girls volleyball junior, Aaliyah Fuentes. One of the most important recruitment tips is to get their face out there. College coaches looking for athletes will be looking for game film but it can be hard to identify the athletes playing a team sport when watching their film. The athlete having a professional picture to include in their recruitment emails is important so that the coaches can know their face. This also helps if a college coach attends the athlete’s game and wants to speak with them.
Kamila Rivas, a senior on the Coral Glades Volleyball team says “Having a media day shows how you are as a player and it shows the importance of being a part of a team” For many athletes media day is a time to showcase their sports which is a huge part of their student life, while also bringing their personality with the use of props and facial expressions.
Understanding how important media day can be for the high school sports program is crucial to helping the athlete move higher in their athletic career. School administrators need to organize media days for school sports to help nurture the success of future professional athletes.
