Social media is an easy, quick way to share updates across the Club.
Drummoyne Power operates this website and has active Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts plus a regular newsletter.
As well as providing families in Drummoyne Power with information about what is happening at the Club, social media also provides a forum for engagement – between the Club and families but also with our youth club, the Canada Bay Cannons; other AFL Clubs and the wider AFL community, potential member families, sponsors, and the general community.
Why use social media?
Social media is a fabulous tool for local sports clubs. Many people in the community – including our members, sponsors and local community – use social media regularly. It is there 24/7. Even if people aren’t regular users of social media, the Club’s social media channels are open, allowing them access via a web browser (even without an account).
At Drummoyne Power we will use social media to:
- Promote activities, news and resources
- Reinforce the Club’s positive culture
- Acknowledge and engage with our valuable sponsors and volunteers
- Connect with potential members of Drummoyne Power
- Celebrate the achievements of our children and the Club
- Recruit players and volunteers
- Drive traffic to our website
A positive focus
Drummoyne Power is a volunteer organisation, which relies on the goodwill of its volunteers and member families. Our tone on all our social media channels will be overwhelmingly positive and our accounts will be actively reviewed to ensure content is appropriate and meets the guidelines provided in the AFL NSW/ACT statement on electronic communications.
We DO want to hear your constructive feedback but if you’ve got something negative to tell us, or you have a complaint please email us, rather than putting it on social media (that includes comments relating to other clubs).
Children and social media
The registration form includes a general consent to take photos of children for use in promoting the Club. Most of our social media posts contain images of children. These must be appropriate, respectful and encouraging of children.
We will not publish images that include a child’s name or any other identifying information, without express consent of parents or carers.
Sometimes parent’s “tag” or identify their own children. Older children in our youth teams may tag themselves or their friends. This is fine. However, as a Club, we will identify children only by an age group, eg: U10 Black, unless we have that parental consent.
Match reports published on our forums will identify children only by first name (and surname initial if required to distinguish from other children of the same name in the same team). We won’t directly attach names to images.
Occasionally, the Club will share published articles or posts that do contain a child’s name (for example if they are profiled in the local paper). In those instances, the Club will assume consent as it is already in the public domain.
The Club’s annual year book and is an exception to this general policy and will include the names of children and their photos.
If parents or carers have any questions or concerns, they should contact the Club. We also encourage you to read our policies around child protection.
Content
Social media relies on producing engaging content. While much of the information-based content (events, wet weather updates, notifications) will be driven by the Drummoyne Power Board, we need YOUR input.
Do you have news that will be of interest to the Club? Does a player or volunteer in your team deserve a shout-out? Let us know!
We’d love you to share your photos from training, game day and club or AFL events.
Does your team have someone who regularly takes photos and shares them to the team? We’d love to tap into that.
How to share photos
The club has introduced a Dropbox system to make it easy to receive photos from people who may take photos on a regular or semi-regular basis. We don’t want to make taking photos a chore, but many people enjoy photography. If this is you, and you’d like Club Dropbox folder, please email: info@drummoynepower.com and we’ll set you up. We’ll always attempt to acknowledge the photographer on social media when we can.
Photos in the Dropbox folder will sit on our account, so you don’t have to worry about it filling up your space.
Know your boundaries
Please follow the directions of a ground manager or home club official at all times. Safety is our priority so please keep well away from the play. Please do not use a tripod or monopod unless you are behind a fence.
In older age groups, you may be asked to keep off the field of play. This is at the ground manager’s discretion.
As a general rule, if parents are asked to keep behind a fence, and you are not a registered team official, then you will need to ask permission of the ground manager before going inside the fence. You may be asked to wear a bib.
The attitudes of ground manager will vary significantly – please respect their authority.
Photo tips
DSLR cameras
If you have a DSLR camera but haven’t used it for sport before, give it a go!
Some tips for DSLR cameras:
- If you have a zoom lens, use it.
- Many cameras have a sports or action setting – use this.
- If you don’t have a sports/action setting, try shutter priority mode (Nikon and Sony use ‘S’; Canon and Pentax use Tv). To freeze action, try 1/800 to 1/1000 of a second with ISO on auto.
Mobile phone cameras
Almost everyone has a phone in their pocket. Here are some tips that will help you provide engaging content with a mobile phone.
- Don’t zoom on a mobile.
The second you start zooming, you lose picture quality. Get closer to your subject if you can. If you can’t, take the photo without zooming and crop later (or we can crop).
- Use the phone in landscape mode.
Unless you’re taking a photo of something really tall or long and thin, consider turning the phone on its side to take photos or videos – they show up much better on social media this way.
- Get closer.
Fill the whole frame with your subject if you can.
- Action shots on a mobile phone.
Action shots can be a bit ‘hit and miss’ on a mobile. The burst function can sometimes yield a good photo but wait until the action is close to you. Don’t expect the phone to pick up action shots from across the other side of the oval.
- Try video snippets instead.
Sometimes it is better just to take a snippet of video action on your mobile, but again, wait until the action is up close.
- Take more photos.
The more photos you take, the better chance you have to find a good one – someone is bound to blink, or the angle didn’t work. Where you would take one, try taking 3 or 4 and picking the best.
- Think of the background.
Often you don’t have a choice, but if you do, think about what is in the background. Are the kids standing in front of a garbage bin? Is there a pole coming out of someone’s head?
- Hold your phone steady.
Rather than hold your phone out at arm’s length, turn yourself into a human tripod. Hold your phone with both hands and pull your arms close to your chest or stomach.
- Angle your phone.
Get down to eye level to take photos of kids, rather than taking a photo looking down on them.
- Where’s the sun?
If you’re shooting into the sun, you may be able to see people’s faces but your smartphone probably won’t be able to and you’ll just see a shadow.
- Send them through to us in ORIGINAL size.
Don’t reduce the size of the photo you’re sending through – email or dropbox it in full size. We’ll reduce them in size if we need to.
- The action isn’t just on the sidelines!
There are plenty of things to photograph off field, and if you’re shooting on a mobile phone, they may even work out better.
Consider:
- Team huddle
- Coach/manager chatting to the kids
- Kids walking on/off the field together
- Kids encouraging each other eg high fives
- Kids on the bench waiting to play
- Our awesome volunteers at work – talking to kids, getting the gear sorted, umpiring games, waving flags, running boundaries, cooking sausages
- Breaks in play for oranges or snakes
- Singing the team song
- Team awards
- Have fun!
Taking photos shouldn’t be a chore – and we don’t want you to be so focused on photos that you miss important moments. Take photos and send them through when you can. If you can’t because you have other responsibilities, or you just don’t feel like it that day, then don’t. No pressure!