There’s no worse feeling than playing your heart out at a game and looking up to nearly empty bleachers. You have a crowd of about 15 people, all either parents or siblings forced to sit through the game. After beating your own personal record or getting your max playing time, there’s no worse feeling than having no one there to cheer you on or celebrate your team’s victory.

A noticeable trend from our girls’ athletic teams this year is that they’re not getting equal support from our school as our boys’ teams. For example, why is it that our victorious girls’ soccer team with a record of 8-3 crowd falls short of the boys’ soccer 6-5 team? Boys sports seem to have a more consistent group of fans who come to the game. Junior Mason Kravitz can be found at most games decked out in spirit, body painted and shouting in support of the team. He has attended eight of the 11 games, including home and away, but only one girls’ game. While Kravitz thinks the girls’ team is just as athletic and talented as boys’, he chooses to attend boys’ over girls’ because he “has friends that he supports on the boys’ team and it’s difficult to attend both boys and girls’ when they’re at the same time every week.”

Boys’ games tend to be more exciting and have an active crowd, with fans bringing megaphones or vuvuzelas to participate in cheers with. According to Kravitz, boys’ games tend to “have more physical contact and be fast paced” compared to girls’ games, which for him personally are more enjoyable to view.

The poms have been executing one performance after another consecutively at the last four home games. At the homecoming pep rally, they surprised the audience with a Friday the 13th skeleton-themed hip hop dance, which drew the crowd onto their feet. However, when it comes to the varsity poms competition season, they don’t receive a lot of support. “When the teams and students that we support show up to our competitions, it’s very rewarding. However, it’s nearly impossible to feel motivated and do your best when you look up and just see parents who feel obligated to watch their children in the stands. As a team, the poms feed off the crowd’s energy so the more spirited you are, the more alive we feel,” sophomore Julia Bogart said.

To her it is not a surprise that the amount of support they get is microscopic compared to teams such as football. Students tend to go to the games where they know the rules and know how to the follow the game. Bogart said, “You’d be surprised how many times I have been asked what the difference between poms and cheer is. I have grown up dancing my whole life as training for this. To me, it’s as obvious as the difference between baseball and soccer.”

So the next time you find yourself home and bored, check out our athletic schedule for that night. Don’t just lean toward the teams you feel comfortable watching or are the most popular. Try something new because in reality we’re all rooting for the same team.

Emily Eichberg

Commons Editor