What many do not know yet is that social media use inhibits training gains and game performance.

A recent story from LetsPlayHockey.com detailed the studies’ findings and how they relate to athletes performing their best. Below is an excerpt from LetsPlayHockey.com.

Many other studies are showing the same: late-night social media use is correlated with lower point production in NBA athletes and with worse performance outcomes for college swim and track, and field athletes. In these cases, the reduction in sleep quality is a major factor in worse performance outcomes.

The nature of social media itself is also the problem. Watching TV is a largely passive activity. The entertainment does not really interact with you. With social media, nearly every second requires a decision – do I continue to scroll, like, comment, switch apps, or search for something? Imagine watching television for 30 minutes, but the entire time you only watch a show for five seconds, then change the channel. That would be exhausting!

Serious athletes should understand that social media use has a myriad of negative impacts on their health, physically and mentally, and that using it before training and competition has performance implications. Youth and high school sports coaches, organizations, and leaders should lead the charge to get phones out of team settings and educate their players on the negative impact phone use is having on their performance.

» ALSO SEE: Field-painting robot helping athletic directors in Illinois

At Fortis, we have a social media and video games seminar for parents and athletes that reviews this and other research, helping to educate and inspire youth and high school players to put the phone down and become better athletes! Reach out if you’d like to learn more and schedule a seminar with your high school, team, or association.

Josh Levine is the owner of The Fortis Academy, a sports performance training organization that works with youth to professional athletes. Fortis provides training, sport-specific skills work, leadership and parent education, and nutrition services. To learn more, go to www.thefortisacademy.com. 

To read the full story from LetsPlayHockey.com, click here. 

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A recent article from the PJStar.com detailed the robotic field-painting device. Below is an excerpt from the PJStar.com article.

Turf Tank is a programmable robot on four wheels that looks like a tiny tank. Loaded with a reservoir of paint and guided by a computer, it works unsupervised, painting the lines on soccer, football, baseball, lacrosse, and other athletic fields.

In turn, it frees up human groundskeepers to spend more time on the preparation and upkeep of their facilities.

Illini Bluffs High School athletic director Steve Schafer has a Turf Tank One leased for his facilities.

His son, Peoria Park District supervisor of park maintenance Ryne Schafer, has a Turf Tank One (with software upgrades that essentially make it a Two) for his fields.

Pekin High School just acquired a Turf Tank a few weeks ago, according to its athletic director, Cole Stoner.

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“The core of Snap! Mobile has always been fundraising, but on a deeper level, fundraising is an expression of support. With the launch of Snap! Mobile One, we’re simply unlocking new avenues of support, whether through sponsorship, merchandise, engagement, ticketing, giveaways, video, and plenty more,” said Cole Morgan, CEO and Founder, Snap! Mobile. “Youth and high school sports may never have the financial resources that big colleges and universities do, but with the technology of Snap! Mobile One, they can use the same powerful technologies.”

Using the Snap! Mobile One app, fans can access up-to-the-minute information on game times and locations, statistics and lineups, ticketing, merchandise, and even video. These content offerings strengthen emotional connections, bringing supporters closer to the teams and students they support.

For coaches and administrators, Snap! Mobile One delivers a suite of sophisticated tools to help manage the critical basics like schedules, contracts, facilities, transportation, and equipment inventory. There are also messaging tools where coaches and ADs can communicate directly with students, parents, and/or fans. Additionally, Snap! Mobile One provides new avenues for revenue generation via sponsorship, team merchandise, and more. The app also provides an “Insights” tool enabling coaches and administrators to gather better understandings of where their efforts are most effective.

Lastly, students, parents, fans, coaches, and administrators can all rest easy knowing that Snap! Mobile One employs the same stringent standards and guidelines for data protection and security that exist across all Snap! products and services.

» ALSO SEE: NCS4 announces annual conference and exhibition in San Antonio

“Snap! Mobile One allows our resource-constrained customers the ability to use the same tools as their University counterparts. Budget is not a barrier to entry. We want our coaches and administrators to have access to software that makes their administrative tasks more efficient and engagement with their communities more effective, so they can spend more time in the gym, classroom, auditorium, or on the field with their kids,” Morgan added.

About Snap! Mobile

Founded in 2014, Snap! Mobile is the creator of Snap! Raise, the nation’s largest and top-performing digital fundraising platform for high school and youth athletics and activities. Since its founding, Snap! Raise has helped over 150,000 schools, groups, and teams raise more than $1 billion. Snap! Mobile further supports schools, teams, and organizations with Snap! Mobile One, an all-in-one app designed to simplify operations and enhance community engagement. For more information, please visit www.snapraise.com

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Alongside the campaign, Snap! Mobile is proud to announce that the company is the first in its sector to be NIST compliant — the same standard of data privacy and protection used by the Federal government.

The Snap! Mobile awareness campaign is intended to shine a light on the serious risk factors that come with data privacy and financial security — particularly as it relates to kids, youth sports, and school extracurriculars. The campaign, which targets school administrators, coaches, and parents, will consist of a PSA-style video, followed by a series of short-form videos released online and across social media.

“When it comes to data protection and privacy, almost every school and/or school district has strict safety protocols in place,” explained Cole Morgan, CEO and Founder, Snap! Mobile. “But frequently, those protections end with the school day. Unfortunately, we’ve seen bad actors use the extracurricular world of sports and clubs, and its fundraising, to circumvent those safety measures and gain access to data and finances in ways that are nefarious and even criminal. Administrators, coaches, and parents need to better understand the risks — and how to protect themselves. We’re hoping to raise that awareness through this campaign.”

The campaign’s kickoff video is available for viewing here: https://snapraise.com/snap-for-the-win/

» ALSO SEE: Protecting our kids means more than helmets

Founded in 2014, Snap! Mobile is the creator of Snap! Raise and the nation’s largest and top-performing digital fundraising platform for high school and youth athletics and activities. Since its founding, Snap! Raise has helped more than 125,000 schools, groups, and teams raise more than $950 million.

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