Bec Cole sees the good, the bad and the ugly of social media every time she logs on.
The gun Southside Flyers veteran is among the fittest women in the WNBL — and perhaps in Australia.
A meticulous professional who has lived in the gym ever since she wrecked her knee as a teenager, the 31-year-old has steadily built her social media profile around basketball and fitness.
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As her star has risen, Cole has used her platform for good as an ambassador for Lymphoma Australia, after her father Gary Cole, a former Socceroo, was diagnosed with the disease. She’s also partnered with companies that align with her values to supplement her basketball income.
With that, though, comes the ugliness of humanity many athletes are forced to deal with.
Being called a “slut” is the tip of the iceberg.
Most of the time she just laughs off the “keyboard warriors”.
But, just days after her grandfather died, one disgusting message left her furious: “That’s why you didn’t say goodbye to him,” it read.
“I saw this after the game and I was in the icebath and I just went off,” Cole said. “They brought my family into it. I was so angry.”
Cole’s relentless dedication to her fitness has helped her sculpt a physique she is proud of. With chiselled abs and bulging biceps, she’s not afraid to flaunt it with many of her posts exuding the confidence she has in herself – and the confidence she wishes for other women.
But not all people think the same.
In a bizarre recent message, one man told her she looked “unhealthy”.
“Hey Coley, we have followed your career for a while, me and my girls love you, but we don’t think you look fit, that looks unhealthy,” the message read.
Cole didn’t reply.
“I don’t know these people, so I don’t speak back,” Cole said.
“I will laugh it off and I’m glad I’m like that and don’t take most of it to heart.
“At the end of the day, you don’t know me, you don’t know how hard I work and I guess that’s your opinion if you think I don’t look healthy – but I know I am healthy.”
She’s painfully aware not all athletes possess the strength to block out the nastiness and feels for those who are impacted by the barrage of trolling that plagues social media.
“I think female athletes already have a hard time, mentally, on the way we need to look,” she said.
“It’s the biggest battle. I’ve been through times, and I know I’m not the only woman athlete who’s been like this, where I’ve overtrained and haven’t eaten enough and needed moments of realisation.
“Social media can be so damaging when the comment and messages feed into the feelings you have about yourself, whether they are true or not.”
As far as her own brand goes, Cole is coming off a superb WNBL campaign in which her team ultimately fell short in the grand final series, but she was a powerhouse with 25 and 27 points in the two championship games against Townsville.
She hopes to leverage that success in the off-season to lift her profile further and secure more commercial partnerships.
That happens in a variety of ways.
“I’m an athlete first, I’m not a social media person, but I’ve got my niche and I’ve had to figure out what’s worth what, how much companies pay for posts, stories, shout outs and partnerships,” she said.
“If I’m really passionate about something, I’ll send an email to the company and the worst that can happen is they don’t reply or say no.
“A lot of the time it’s brands reaching out to me. You don’t do everything, because I also think your followers know when it becomes a bit disingenuous.
“The world on Instagram is a little too perfect sometimes, not reality, and I don’t want to go down that path.”
She’s already planning for life after basketball, with several media gigs in basketball and she also has a dream of competing in a body competition.
