The @gdshopperathletics Instagram account, once inactive for weeks at a time, now features a daily stream of posts, reels and stories highlighting athletes and upcoming events. The uptick in activity started in November when new athletic operations coordinator Mike Pierce came to GDS.
On Jan. 29, Pierce posted a reel—a short video on Instagram—celebrating the GDS athletes who earned DCSAA all-state or Washington Post All-Met honors. The day before, he posted the home and away games taking place that day for the five GDS teams in action. Pierce told the Bit that posts usually get about 1,000 views, with some garnering more attention than others. He also noted the account has seen an uptick in followers since November.
“Part of the job description when I started here was to increase the visibility of the athletics teams here at Georgetown Day School,” Pierce said. “GDS Athletics has come a really long way in terms of their competitiveness, especially volleyball and a few other sports, too. I think what we are trying to do here in athletics is take the next step.”
He came to GDS after former assistant athletic director and sports information and operations manager Derek Brunn left early in the school year to work in North Carolina. Pierce now works in Brunn’s old office on the L2 level, where a collection of D.C. sports bobbleheads—remnants of Pierce’s time working in operations positions for the Washington Capitals, Nationals and Wizards—line the shelves.
“The plan is consistency and branding. That’s something that I’ve really taken to heart since I started here in November,” Pierce said.
For many athletes, the expanded social media presence has provided increased exposure.
“I really like that students are getting to see athletics more and it helps the swim team in getting recognition,” senior Kate Toufanian, a captain of the swimming team, said. “Some people didn’t know we had a swim team.”
“More publicity is always good,” freshman Stuart Mitchell, who is on the wrestling team, said. “I think it could help us get more recruitment and it could bring attention to the games so people actually show up.”
“I’ve seen a lot more posts about events that I wouldn’t have known about otherwise,” senior Caleb Murphy said. “I had no idea that we had home wrestling events at GDS and that we competed in the high school gym,” he said.
Pierce said he has researched other local schools—such as those in the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference, Independent School League and Washington Catholic Athletic Conference—to understand their social media posting strategies.
“We want to showcase, similar to how other prep schools are doing in the area, the athletics that we offer here at Georgetown Day School,” he said.
He noted some schools with nationally ranked teams in a sport tend to promote only their top teams on social media. “I think what is really setting our social media apart from those other schools is that they don’t really seem to highlight all the sports,” he said.
Toufanian was featured on a gameday post for the swim team. “It was pretty cool to see my portrait out there,” she said.
Pierce said he tries to feature all sports and players equally. “I have a spreadsheet where I track who is appearing in photos so I can make sure everybody is as even as possible,” Pierce said. “I make a point to highlight all the teams that are performing on that day, home or away.”
“I’ve been seeing basketball posted a little bit,” senior Christian Santos-Silva, a captain of the varsity basketball team, said. “I’ve seen the more successful sports posted a little more, which makes sense.”
Sophomore Arjun Bhargava had a different concern. “I was a little upset because they posted a gameday picture of me that did not get me right. I did not look very nice,” he said.
Beyond social media engagement, Pierce hopes the increased exposure will lead to higher game attendance.
The men’s basketball game against McLean on Jan. 17 was sparsely attended despite a white-out theme. “There’s a lot of learning happening on my end,” Pierce said. “I want to understand what interests the student body, what motivates them.”
He is testing those theories on Feb. 1 with a green-out for Sports Saturday, where students are encouraged to wear green to the games.
Pierce said the work is ongoing. “We love all the support we can get,” he said. “The goal is to keep building.”