Under representation in high school sports

Jackson Pollard

Sports are a very large part of the high school experience. A lot of students participate in sports directly whether they’re a player, team manager, or a very expressive fan of their school’s team. Even their counterparts come to games to support them on days they don’t play. In theory this is great for the school and school spirit, but when it comes to any sport other than boys’ varsity football and basketball, there’s very little representation for these teams no matter the level they’re performing at. There needs to be more attention brought to other sports at Huron High School. 

Athletic Director Tony Whiren, who attends every home event he can, says football, basketball, hockey, and soccer tend to have bigger crowds with lots of energy, where the energy is upbeat and humorous. While the other sports get smaller groups of students who are still supportive, but significantly smaller. 

Statistics tell the story. “Attendance this year for home varsity football averaged from 1,800-3,500 and JV under 1,000,” Whiren said. He credits these number differences to the size of the student sections ultimately being much different from a Monday or Thursday game to a Friday night game.

Junior soccer players Nana Nkansah-Andoh and Nathan Sinkiewicz are among some of the student athletes who also support other sports whenever they can fit home events into their schedule. 

“We don’t get the same amount of attention, Nkansah-Andoh said. “I think football and basketball probably get the most attention, there’s a lot less away families that travel compared to other sports.”

They also both expressed that freshman and JV soccer players often come to varsity soccer games, again showing that counterpart support.

These very direct experiences show us that we as a community at Huron are very supportive of our sports teams, when given the opportunity to be. Our school has 20 separate sports teams competing all throughout the fall alone. There needs to be more exposure to these other teams by way of administration and staff because clearly we see how supportive the students are when it comes to any Huron sports program. We’ve shown our dedication to this school, and now we need to show our appreciation to ALL of these athletes’ dedication to their sport. We as a community need to do a much better job at making our athletes feel supported. Go to a JV game and show those underclassmen we can’t wait to see them wearing a varsity jersey soon, show those freshmen getting their first taste of high school athletics that they aren’t alone out there. Show those varsity soccer players that their playoff run is just as impressive as a football or basketball playoff run. We are our school, we are our sports, we need to show it. Now.