Football, soccer and field hockey are played during the fall season after summer break, which creates excitement and anticipation of competition as the school year begins. In contrast, basketball, hockey and swimming are played during the winter months when school has been in session for several months, and the weather turns cold.
Fall sports have a fan-watching edge over winter sports because of the warm weather, which allows sporting events to take place outside. “In the fall, sports seem to be more popular because it is the beginning of the year that starts with exciting events and themes,” senior Emily Miranda said.
This allows students and fans to gather and enjoy the contest with spirit involved in rooting for school teams. Winter sports are just as exciting and competitive but are often played inside when the temperatures are freezing outside. This added element of cold weather creates challenges that do not exist for warm-weather sports. For example, football, soccer, and other fall sporting games involve large outdoor crowds that socialize before, during and after the game.
The COVID pandemic changed the perspective of attending indoor events with large crowds. Even with the excitement of the boys’ varsity basketball team holding a winning record of 7-2 currently, there are still more challenges to attending indoor sporting events.
In the fall, a bearable amount of homework allows students to come out on weeknights and Friday nights to watch the sports games. In the winter, quarters two and three are known to have a bigger workload, which limits students coming out to watch and support some of the winter sports games. Even with these challenges, our fanbase still makes the most of it. Senior Catherine Clark said, “Our basketball team is the best and fun to watch.”
Junior Isabella Hovian agrees that during the winter months of school, it is harder to balance academics and school events. “Winter is colder and I don’t have as much energy,” Hovian said.
On the other hand, junior Salwa Moumneh enjoys winter sports games more than fall. “I find our winter sports more fun to watch, especially a basketball or hockey game on a Friday night vs a Thursday or Friday night football game,” Moumneh said.
As the seasons change, people have mixed feelings about going outside and participating in events and themes. There are weather challenges that not only impact the fanbase but also the training and motivation of the athletes. The student-athletes training for their fall season have the benefit of warm weather and wider areas to practice, but the cold weather may eliminate outdoor training and sporting events and decrease training opportunities.
However, winter sports do have advantages. For example, during the frigid season, indoor sports bring people together, which creates a feeling of pride and community in the school. If we did not have winter sports, and an active fanbase, students would have fewer opportunities to socialize and root for their classmates in competition.
