The Elkhorn North student section has been a continuous disappointment for athletes, coaches, and fans. Starting with girls basketball, the lack of attendance has now spread to volleyball and boys basketball. This negatively impacts the school’s reputation and takes a toll on the morale of student athletes. 

“It affects everything,” boys basketball head coach Andy King said. “Not only does it give us energy and how we play, but a great student section can affect the other team and their plan.” 

During my freshman year, the student section was nearly filled at every football, basketball, and volleyball game. Despite the football team’s challenging season that year, students showed out loud and proud. Since then, the student body has lost their sense of school spirit. 

Girls basketball has continually suffered from the absence of the student section. With the strong history of the program, students have made the excuse to not attend games due to the expected outcome that the girls will win. Months earlier, at the football games against Westview and Lincoln Northwest, there were large student sections, despite the fact that our team won both games by over 30 points. This is a double standard among the student body.

Students’ consistent showing for football games should be widespread to all sports. Students want to be involved in the fun atmosphere that is created at football games, but why does it have to end with football season?

 Two years ago, the volleyball district final game was packed with 60+ students. This year, there were minimal students in attendance. About two hundred students came to the state quarter-final game the following week. It is really disappointing to only experience the support of the student body during the state tournament that often results in missing school.

“The freshmen have done a great job at coming to support for the games,” King said. “But I think the girls and boys basketball teams would love to see more support from the upperclassmen.”

The boys have had a phenomenal start to their season breaking numerous school records. At the home game against Hastings, the boys fought hard and earned themselves a great win– in front of a student section of 15 freshmen. While I applaud the freshman for their repeated attendance, the upperclassmen set a poor example.

“Part of a good student section is being its own community,” junior Myles Trausch said. “The upperclassmen need to do a better job of getting everyone involved and connected.”

It is the responsibility of the senior class to rally students to come to the games, and there just simply hasn’t been enough of that this year. Despite the twitter posts and themes, seeing more than a few upperclassmen at events other than football is a rare occurrence. 

Student athletes train and practice for months in the off-season then every day during the season,  and our teams have had tremendous success in the school’s first four years. This success has somehow become the very reason for the disappearing student section at girls basketball and volleyball games. Athletes put in hours upon hours of work just to perform in front of a crowd of parents and a handful of students. It’s time for a change and to give our athletes the support they deserve.

“It would really help to have the support of the school on our backs,” sophomore basketball player Jase Reynolds said. “It just makes you want to go out there and give it your all.”  

The next home basketball game for girls and boys is next Friday, February 9th. Let’s start the change and show out for our teams.