A Friday night lights high school experience is something I would never want to give up, and an exciting, nail biting close basketball game is always fun. Maybe even a trip to the baseball field to watch is worth the time, but those aren’t the only sports worth watching in your high school career.
There are so many sports that West offers that don’t get a lot of attention. How many people show up to wrestling matches that aren’t family members of the athletes? Once again, they might not be the most fun to sit through and watch but those athletes deserve recognition too.
As a student athlete who’s sport doesn’t get many supporters it’s easy for me to say that the swim team needs more patrons to watch, but the truth is I know they aren’t fun, they are boring and hot. But as a student who watches the more exciting sports such as football, I would also say that those sporting events can have very similar conditions.
All I am saying is that there are so many more sports to watch and get interested in than just football, basketball, girls’ volleyball and baseball. I know those can bring a big student section and school spirit, and can be more intense than a tennis match, but they can also be just as boring to someone who doesn’t know the sport.
As far as recognition overall, as a school, we can do a whole lot better. One of the few reasons we had such a supportive crowd for our boys’ soccer team was because they were doing so well and hosted a Friday Night Futbol game, other than that not many kept up with them once they started playing post season games. Their stands were not full other than those rare occasions.
I also think there shouldn’t be a question as to what qualifies as a sport here. Anything that is considered part of the athletic program is included in that range of being a sport and can get just as much recognition as the football team losing one of the biggest games of the year.
Boys’ lacrosse might be on the rise to become more popular in the eyes of many, but the girls’ lacrosse team is begging to have people fill the stands, even a little. The representation of the girls and boys teams is quite different, a similar situation could be said for baseball and softball. I know they aren’t the same sport completely but they are played similarly enough that the games should be equally supported if the interest level is so high for baseball.
The successes of many teams at West are overlooked. Whether it’s records being broken or success in regionals and states, these accomplishments of teams aren’t recognized because they are in sports that aren’t the top priority. I think it speaks to what we as a school can improve upon in the upcoming years. Representation of the whole athletic department rather than the choice sports that are better for a crowd.
