In this day and age, technology is a significant part of society. One of the fastest forms of communication is through social media and cellphones. The Newtown High School athletic department has realized this, and capitalized on the situation. With 2,000 followers and counting, the NHS Athletics Twitter account (@nhsathletics) is keeping students, as well as friends and family members, up on the latest happenings on the courts and playing fields.

Run by Newtown High Athletic Director Gregg Simon and Associate Athletic Director and physical education teacher Carl Strait, the account has gained popularity since it started back in the fall of 2011.

“We started @nhsathletics about three years ago. It was right at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year,” Strait said. “It was a great opportunity to show off what great athletic programs we have at Newtown High. We have so many dedicated student-athletes, coaches, and volunteer coaches that do everything in their power to excel on and off the field. We are proud of their dedication and success and Twitter is a great platform for us to show who we are.”

The account updates followers on all of the happenings in the athletic department — providing subscribers with game results, scoring highlights, and awards information for all of the sports programs.

“I really thought that at the beginning, it would just be a way to let parents, coaches, and student athletes know that games were cancelled or practices were changed. Then we kind of started to build it bigger and bigger with live updates from games, all the scores, and even congratulating people on awards,” Simon said.

The account is surely a sign of the times, as almost everyone possesses a smartphone of some sort, which makes it easier to access the information through the free Twitter app.

What started as a way to show off the multitalented student-athletes at NHS has grown into a significant source of school sports information in Newtown.

“It probably appears to be something that’s fairly easy to do, but lots of times I won’t be at home, I’ll be somewhere where someone will be texting me scores from games, and I’ll have to tweet it out so people will be getting information real time,” Simon said.

Both Strait and Simon agreed that the use of Twitter has completely changed the game when it comes to high school sports information.

“Whether it’s a football game, swim meet, Unified Sporting event, or CIAC Award Night, people have a vast array of info at their fingertips,” Strait said. “I would urge people to take a look at other school’s twitter accounts. Ours is by far the largest in terms of number of Tweets and followers.”

Strait also mentioned the importance of nighthawksports.com as the main website used by the athletic department. The website is viewed about 20,000 times each month, and in it one can find all details pertaining to sports at the high school.