Return of
By: Alex Mielcarz Staff Writer
Sports are inherently emotional. Players go through the entire spectrum of emotions in a single two-to-three-hour period during their match. Whether it be because of a big sack by a defensive lineman, a go-ahead three late in the game or a clutch goal to seal the match in overtime, players have plenty to fuel their emotions. A huge part of those emotions is the crowd. They set the tempo for the day. If the crowd is dead, the team is dead. Occasionally, it’s on the crowd to get the team back into the game, and other times it’s on the team to get the crowd back into it. It’s all part of the beautiful push-pull, give-take relationship between the fans and their team. Flashback to last year: the Pat Sullivan Rec Center’s bleachers sat empty (they didn’t even pull them out) during all volleyball and basketball games. Joliet Memorial Stadium started the outdoor seasons empty too but eventually opened back up towards the end of the modified spring season. Regardless, the Fighting Saints athletic teams had to do something they had never done before: play in front of empty grandstands.
November 29, 2021
The players of the women’s basketball team took it upon themselves to recreate the momentum provided by fans that were traditionally in the stands. “The players on our bench knew we had to take on a higher role,” Acosta said. “[We] had to be louder with the chants, louder with clapping and whenever we scored; we knew we had to be involved as much as possible.”
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“It was very different,” sixth year senior, Forward Andriana Acosta, said. “[Every game] felt like it was a scrimmage against the other team.”
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Basketball is a game that feeds off the energy of the crowd. Every steal, every bucket in transition and every corner three is amplified by the fans in attendance. That amplification was gone last year, and the Sullivan Center was left with a completely different vibe.
