When professional, collegiate, and even high school athletes are under the spotlight, a number of programs have started to restrict the players’ ability to express themselves on and off the field.  In January of 2015, racially insensitive tweets led to the expulsion of a high school cornerback , and a lost scholarship to Michigan. Major universities like Mississippi State, South Carolina, and University of Connecticut have limited their student-athletes from distractions like Twitter,Facebook, and Instagram. In professional sports, the National Hockey League had issues concerning homophobic slurs between the Philadelphia Flyers’ Wayne Simmonds, and New York Rangers’ Sean Avery. Athletes of all levels are consistently criticized by the press on their public and private social media accounts, as well as how they perform on the field or court.

The First Amendment protects freedom of speech and press rights. The Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” Because professional athletes work for the league, there are many policies they have to follow. Essentially, professional athletes’ contracts restrict much of their freedoms.This allows all professional sports leagues to punish and restrict their employees behavior in anyway that they see fit. Similar to the NHL incident, the National Basketball Association fined Kobe Bryant one hundred thousand dollars last year for using a homophobic slur towards a referee. Comments like these are sometimes rooted in social media, which is what these associations are attempting to avoid by restricting their employees’ freedom of speech. WFS senior, Sydney Gardner ’16 commented, “I think teams and associations should have control over what the players say on social media because in the end it’s going to reflect the team and organization as a whole, not just that individual.” Whether the intention is for the better of the team, or in actuality, protecting others’ rights, these private companies should not be given the ability to essentially take away their employees first amendment rights.

Henry Gise ’17 believes, “Players at any level should be able to say what they want, but if necessary, a team should be able to take control of what an athlete says; at least when it’s regarding that team.” The image and fluidity of the team is the concern of most associations, coaches, and fans. Student and professional athletes alike should be extremely cautious of the content they put on social media, as well as how they portray themselves and their team on the court. When asked about this issue, Jake Rashkind, coach of boys lacrosse, shared that there’s no real way for a coach to control what his or her players do on social media at a high school varsity level. “In an era where smack-talk and shameless self promotion draws a lot of attention, I think it’s important for leaders, and I mean captains as well as coaches, to teach the importance of humility. Can I stop a player from going on Facebook and saying something disrespectful about an upcoming opponent? No, but I can let all players know that such behavior will not be tolerated on the field or off.” Players have to think about the content they put out on social media, and how it can potentially impact  not only their program, but them as a player.It is up to the program, and the players to instill expectations on social media. During games that players and coaches should act with respect and tolerance despite a difficult situation.