‘Live on the Net’

By Bryan Ramos | THE RIDER

The UTRGV Women’s Basketball Team and Head Coach Larry Tidwell have been gearing up for the start of the 2016-17 season with a 100-day countdown to their Nov. 12 tipoff against the University of Nebraska as part of the Preseason National Invitational Tournament.

During the countdown, the team is using social media to build a connection with fans, the campus community and their family back home. Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach Hannah Burleson came up with the idea of using the popular live-streaming applications Facebook Live and Periscope to broadcast interviews with the team so they will have their own voices heard.

Burleson has spent the last three years at UTRGV helping to build the program along with Tidwell, for whom she was a student assistant at Lamar University in 2012.

“Part of my job here, with the staff, is the marketing and promoting of our program,” Burleson said. “I’m only 26, so I use social media myself. So, I was sitting at home and thinking of something we haven’t seen from a lot of people to get the program out there. I felt it was something innovative that could really allow people to see what’s going on with us.”

Burleson sits down with the women for a 10-to-15-minute interview, giving the audience a closer look at what life is like as a Division I student athlete at UTRGV from their perspective.

Junior forward Hildur Björg Kjartansdóttir, a team captain, said the chance to sit down and have her voice heard is an opportunity she values.

“It gives the students and faculty a chance to get to know us better,” Kjartansdóttir said. “We don’t have much time outside from school and basketball, so this is one way for them to know where we’re from and how we adjusted to living here. It’s as close as face-to-face to us as you can get. I appreciate the opportunity that Hannah and the coaches have given us. They put a lot of work into it, so we’re really enjoying it.”

Eleven of the 18 women on the team are from outside Texas, including four international student athletes.

Senior forward Lile Havili, who is from Salt Lake City, Utah, and of Tongan descent, said the interviews help her connect with her family.

“Not a lot of my distant family  knows about where I’m at and what I’m doing, so now that they see me on Facebook with this interview, it’s going to be out there and straightforward with them,” Havili said.

Kjartansdóttir said live-streaming the interviews helps her reach family 4,266 miles away in Iceland.

“Everybody is on social media, so I feel this is the best way to reach out to people,” she said. “We use social media every day to talk to our friends and family back home. It’s also for the people in our lives who can’t make it to our games, who get a closer look at how we’re doing here.”

On Facebook alone, “Live on the Net” has received over 32,000 views. Burleson said the women have relished the interview series as they prepare for tipoff.

“They love it. They’ve been really receptive and reached out to family and friends,” Burleson said. “You get a little more personal insight and the more you can build relationships, the more support and fan base you’ll have; things will grow and benefit our players.”

To find all 25 interviews of the team and coaching staff, visit the women’s social media pages on Facebook at @UTRGVWOMENSHOOPS, Twitter and Periscope @UTRGVWOMENHOOPS.