All athletes, regardless of the sport they play, deserve and benefit from strong support from their peers. I know the feeling of looking up into the stands to see no one there; however, I know how it feels to see your closest friends and family and how strongly of a difference it can make in my performance. Sports are commonly represented in the media tend to see a trickle down affect when it comes to high school sports. 

According to Sports Pro “the NFL averaged 18.58 million viewers per game across all networks and platforms in the 2025 season”

   We can see this affecting high school students at our own football games. At LHS, like many other schools, football is the most attended student athletic event. These athletes work hard and they see the support for it. While other athletes work just hard and see no support from their peers.

   According to the National Institute for Health, “when an athlete sees friends or fellow students in the crowd cheering, it can boost their energy and enthusiasm”.

   Athletes in individual sports such as swimming, golf and cross country may be particularly vulnerable, as their primary support system often consists only of coaches and family. These athletes have had great seasons however students dont traditionally attend their events. Mens Soccer has had a great season winning 13 of their 14 games, the entire womens varsity golf team went to state, mens swimming is undefeated in there dual meet season. Why arent these athletes seeing attendance at their events?

   Mens swim saw zero students in attendance at there last dual meet against north. This isnt a rare occurrence for the teams events.

   “When you’re all on your own, it’s harder to compete; it’s much easier to compete when you’re doing it for something more than yourself,” swim coach Christopher Murphy said.

   While clubs like Blue Crew Crazies were founded to increase support for all athletes in school, they cannot force students to attend events such as swim meets and soccer games.

   “Blue crew crazies work the hardest out of any of the schools I’ve worked in to increase student support,” Aaron Neeser said.

   While I understand that sports like football and basketball tend to have a high rate of student attendance due to more coverage in the media, its not fair to athletes of other sports that dont get the same recognition. These athletes work just as hard in there sport, they deserve to get support just as much.