Remember when you were 10 and you got the lead role in your school’s Christmas program or you were starting to learn to wrestle? Your parents were there, and maybe your grandparents
Remember when you were 15 and your choir group asked you to sing a solo or you were running at track districts? Your parents, other relatives and friends were all there cheering you on.
Remember when you were 18 and you had a senior dance showcase or you were the point guard and it was the first game at state basketball? Not only were your parents, other relatives and friends all there, but there were strangers there as well. People who might only know your name—if that much—but it didn’t matter. You were competing for the same school. That moment that you realized other students were there to watch and support you, to cheer you on, made you want to play that much harder. And you did. Because if you didn’t give it your all, not only would you be letting your team down, but everyone who came to cheer you on.
There aren’t many things more exciting than getting to play on your home turf, court, field or stage, and look out to see a full audience: cheering, applauding and encouraging. It’s a feeling every athlete misses when they no longer play, and college intramurals just aren’t the same. The sensation of butterflies and nerves as you step out to face the opponent, ready for the challenge as the competitiveness starts to ooze through our veins. It’s your time to shine, for your team to shine, for all of the blood, sweat and tears to be worth it.
I’m from a small town where we only excelled in about two sports, and yet we had some of the loudest and proudest school pride. Every game the stands were packed with students decked out head to toe in our school’s colors of red and white.
Everything in life is about winning or losing. However, supporting your school’s athletics shouldn’t be. Our small school understood that. College athletes deserve the same: our support and our school spirit.
While we’re studying abroad, working, tanning or boating our three-month summers away, they are trying to cram everything into their shortened six-weeks they get at home. Then it’s back to double days and 4:00 am mornings.
They’re working hard to get a win, and they want it more than anyone else who is watching.
How disappointed would you have been to look up and see none of your family or friends? Or what if they left half way through? You’d feel like you had no one to impress or that you weren’t good enough to keep their attention for the whole time.
I’m a senior this year and I have never missed a football game, but I think all of the sports teams deserve the same kind of encouragement and support. Not just the football team.
Those athletes are representing your school, so go out and show them the love they deserve. Besides, win or lose, there’s always booze.
