March Madness is coming, and women’s players are urging fans to keep cool in social media posts

By ERIC OLSON, Associated PressIowa State womens basketball star Audi Crooks has a love-hate relationship with social media.Sometimes shell scroll through her direct messages and find a note from a little girl who sees her as a role model and asks for advice or to take a picture with her after the next game.Other times, the Big 12s leading scorer will receive a message criticizing the way she looks, the way she plays or the way she acts.Theyre missing the whole point of social media, of the internet, of being able to interact with us, Crooks said.

I want to use my social platform for positive connections.Related ArticlesSports | PIAA WRESTLING CLASS 3A: Whitney, Heard, Turi, Lagier advance to quartersSports | LOCAL COLLEGE: Three-run first inning propels Wilkes to fifth winSports | Tyrese Maxey, Paul George miss 76ers visit to short-handed CelticsSports | PIAA GIRLS WRESTLING: Mikulak, Olver, Kivler, Prior into quartersSports | Rodgers may have to wait until after the NFL draft to find a new teamWith March Madness approaching and International Womens Day on Saturday, Crooks and Iowas Hannah Stuelke are promoting healthy digital habits through their name, image and likeness partnerships with UScellular.I think making connections with people online can be very healthy, Stuelke said.

There are a lot of younger girls who reach out to me and I get to respond and encourage what theyre doing.

Thats the upside to social media, being able to mentor people and be a leader to people who may not have a leader.Online abuse of college athletes received attention last weekend when Kansas mens basketball player Zeke Mayo shared screen shots of hateful social media posts directed at him after he struggled in a loss at Texas Tech.An NCAA study released last fall found female college athletes are targeted for online abuse three times as much as male athletes.

Among types of content targeting athletes, 18% was sexual in nature, 17% was general abuse, 14% was sexist and 12% dealt with gambling.The NCAA said abusive content can cause targeted athletes to suffer from anxiety, depression, loss of confidence, panic attacks and in extreme cases can be a contributing factor in suicidal tendencies or actions.

Most athletic departments have counselors to help athletes who are struggling to deal with online negativity.Most of the time, Crooks said, I try to just brush it off.But its not always easy to do, she said.For women in sports specifically, theres just not many things that you can do without being criticized, whether youre celebrating, youre getting a little chippy.

All of a sudden thats out of line, she said.

But if a mens basketball player were to do the same thing, then theyre OK.From a social media perspective, its the opinions of, Oh, shes cocky, shes this, shes that.

She looks this way.

She appears this way.

Thats not very ladylike.

Stuelke said she follows Iowa coach Jan Jensens advice to the players, which is to put the phone down and spend time with people who matter the most, whether its teammates, coaches, friends or family.

When Stuelke does look at Instagram, she knows its possible therell be a nasty message waiting for her from an anonymous keyboard warrior.I think its important we spread the message that this is happening to us and that there are ways to handle it, Stuelke said, and that you arent alone if you are struggling with this..

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