High school is the time to support students with various themes and games to attend and help. The electrifying space that athletes feel when their school supports them uplifts and encourages any person in sports. Building the athlete’s confidence when they perform during athletics is important. Students enjoy dressing up according to the themes and cheering as loud as possible in the stands.
Two students were interviewed to share their memories from over the years about their times in the student sections and the athletes were also asked to discuss their memories from the support that they received. The first person interviewed was Ish Nagy. He was asked two questions, the first being, “How can the energy from the student section affect your performance during games? Nagy responded, “The student section helps a lot when we need that extra boost of energy to push ourselves to play to the whistle and come out with a win.” Then the second question that he responded to was, “Can you describe a moment when the student section’s support helped shift the momentum in your favor?” Ish said, “A specific time the student section helped us in a game was against Cincinnati College Prep Academy when it came down to the last few plays, and everyone in the student section and even just in the crowd was super loud and it gave us that extra pump of adrenaline we needed to come out on top.”
Calvin Lipstraw was also asked the same two questions. For the first question, Lipstraw responded, “The student section can affect my performance because the more people and the more noise there is the more it makes me hyped up.” Lipstraw’s second response to the second question was, “When we were playing Cincinnati Prep there were 2 minutes left in the 4th quarter so we had to stop them and if we didn’t then they would have won. What helped that drive was the student section because they were going crazy and being loud encouraged us to do our best.” After each of the interviewers was done answering questions it became clear that the student sections as the sporting events are what helped keep their spirits pushing and to keep them going.
The athletes who were interviewed explained how the student sections and the spirits helped lift them during the games. In addition, to the students that were interviewed two more students were interviewed to explain what it is like being involved in the student sections. The first person interviewed was Liv Scavio and she was asked, what are your favorite themes to participate in for the student sections? Scavio said, “I like doing Hawaiian themes and pink outs because most people participate in them and I feel that people go all out for these.” Then the second question asked was, what is your favorite memory from being in the student section? Liv responded, “My favorite memory from the student section is when we made the TikTok “It’s cold in here” because it made everyone hyped up and the student section was really into the chants of that game.”
The second person who was asked the same questions was Bryleigh Sleek. She was interviewed with the same questions as the interviewer before. For her first response, Sleek said,” I like doing pink out themes and my other favorite theme is Welcome to Bikini Bottom because I enjoyed dressing up for that game.” For the second question, Bryleigh said, “My favorite memory is jumping and cheering loudly.” Each individual has their fun and experiences and being involved in the spirit makes the games so much fun.
Ultimately, keeping the spirit in the students and the athletes is a big part of the athletic programs. Having that support system among the community and the students keeps the drive for the athletic programs going. Continuing the support in dressing up for themes, cheering and just having fun supporting each other makes a difference.
