So next year I will be a freshman running xc and track in college. Is it weird if I follow future teammates on Instagram or does it come across as stalkerish, even if I have never met/talked to them before?
So next year I will be a freshman running xc and track in college. Is it weird if I follow future teammates on Instagram or does it come across as stalkerish, even if I have never met/talked to them before?
Yes it’s weird if you’ve literally never talked to them. Wait until you go on a campus visit. Or better just wait for them to follow you. Don’t chase clout
it's weird that you have to ask us. it's weird if you make it weird.
do what you want to do and be confident in your decisions. learn from your mistakes and pledge to never repeat them.
It's weird that you start sentences with "so." Don't do that.
Back in my day, we all added each other on Facebook prior to getting to campus. This was also how we communicated roommates and the such. I don't know the current landscape of social media, but I assume following on Instagram is today's equivalent. Don't think it is weird at all.
If you are a committed athlete running there next year it’s not that weird... you should probably already be following their team page... and you should definitely have talked to some of the people already... start with them
I don't think it's weird. If you've commited to the school, they're literally going to be your teammates. Follow them and they would be glad to answer any questions you have, maybe you might even make a friend or two. Also could be interesting to see them post about the college considering visits were cancelled cause of covid
It’s not weird unless you do something weird. Just following them will not make it weird
When I was in college, a few incoming freshmen friended me, some of my teammates, and each other. A couple of them then proceeded to go back and forth, publicly criticizing the current team and talking about how they were going to "dominate" the team when they arrived. Let's just say that they did not... and that they had a much tougher time making friends on the team than they would have otherwise.
No harm in following/ friending people before you get there. Just don't give them a reason to dislike you before they even meet you.
I have a rule that I don't follow anyone on social media unless I've touched their butt (I figure I'm close enough to you to follow at that point). That's why I only follow ~500 people.
personal rule wrote:
I have a rule that I don't follow anyone on social media unless I've touched their butt (I figure I'm close enough to you to follow at that point). That's why I only follow ~500 people.
Does your coach know about this butt touching thing?
I’m too old to have done this myself, but my daughter followed and friended her future teammates. Of course she did do this after she committed. It made the transition to college life much easier, already putting names to faces, messaging them, etc before showing up on campus in August. We live about 2 hours from the university so she was also able to go to a couple of the unofficial summer practices as well, And even then it was like she had already met them.
Long winded way of saying ... going off to College is awkward enough. Anything you do to make the transition easier will be a benefit
Obviously it's not weird. This is how you find out who your future teammates, roommates, etc. are.
I was probably in the first or second incoming college freshman class that had Facebook, and that's exactly how everyone figured out who their future roommate was. I tried looking up my roommate on Myspace first, but then I signed up for Facebook and found him there.
Life lesson: Don't waste any time worrying about seeming weird. Just be yourself and do what you want. You will end up being viewed as a much more interesting person that way, and the people that end up being your friends will be your friends because they actually know who you are.
couldn't be less weird
Follow them then unfollow them just to cover all of the bases.
Not weird at all. Reach out. You might even find yourself an awesome roommate on the team.
Based on the fact that you felt the need to ask this here, I take it you have some insecurity about making friends on your new team, so I have some advice for you. Just relax and be yourself on the team. Don't go out of your way to impress anyone, and don't try to be something you're not. Just relax and keep it real.
Well since the whole point of social media is connecting with people from a screen, I do not really see what the issue is here. Some may perceive it as them being friendly and inviting if they add you before you see them in person, which is a good thing. Sure there's creeps out there but I dont see why people make a big deal out of being followed or friended on social media, because it's really so irrelevant when you think about it. People just like to get on their high horse I guess and make up certain subjective etiquette standards.
Its only weird if you make it weird. When I committed a guy who had already committed dmd me and we've really hit it off and have a great gc. It's only weird if you're weird about it and the fact that u had to post this here doesn't instill my confidence in u lol.
It's not weird, but maybe limit it to the faster ones with the excuse that they were talked about in the post-meet news article thing
Not weird at all. As a college senior I had several incoming freshmen follow me after commiting, several were already following, I even followed some who came up in my recommended friends. Good to get an idea of team culture and have a general idea about who your teammates are before the first practice.