Company: United States Figure Skating
Position: Communications Manager
Kristen’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-henneman/
United States Figure Skating Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/usfigureskating/
United States Figure skating has been around since 1921 and has been providing services to skaters across the U.S. ever since. The goal of United States Figure Skating is to make skating fun for everyone no matter how young or old. Enter Kristen Henneman. Kristen has been working at United States Figure Skating since 2021. She is the Communications Manager of the company. She deals with the media and posts regarding the athletes. Kristen takes part in what is known as co – ownership. She is able to develop a relationship with the athlete to become a co-owner of their personal information. Once Kristen becomes the co-owner it is her job to not post about the information she received unless the skater gives the okay. An example of this that can be seen on the USFSA Instagram page that she runs is when she posted a quote from Sonia Baram and how she felt about the amount of support she received during the junior championships. This can be applied to academic research as well. According to an academic article written by Brandhoff & Maria “if the coach made accommodations, the communication was more effective” (2016, p. 27). The quote points out the idea that when coaches were willing to provide better directions about a skill, the skater was able to better understand and correctly perform the said skill. In addition, Kristen has rules that she follows when it comes to posting on Instagram. These rules allow her to coordinate with the skaters about what can and not be posted in the U.S. Figure Skating Instagram that she runs. An example of this can be seen on the USFSA Instagram page when she did a post about how the Olympic games are more than medals.
Kristen has many takeaways that I can apply to my own life. The first concept that I can apply is the ability to become a co-owner of an athlete’s private information. I can apply this because I understand the importance of building a relationship with an athlete in order to become a co-owner of the skater’s confidential information. Another approach that I can take from her is the way that she sometimes crosses the line with the athlete in order to get the whole truth about a story. This is important because it may need to be done in order to destroy a rumor about the skater on Instagram. In the future Kristne hopes to continue working for U.S. Figure Skating in her current position. She aspires that more women will want to work in the sports world in the future. Kristen is optimistic that more current skaters once they retire will want to continue working in the figure skating world. She hopes that she is an inspiration to other young women who have dreams about working in the sports world.
Citation:
Brandhoff, Vivian Alida Catharina Maria, “International Student-Athletes’ Communication with American Coaches” (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1446. https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/etd/1446
