Students notice lack of s Editor-in-Chief Jackson Parks Students have noticed a difference in crowd size and support between men’s and women’s sports. Whether it be empty stands, sexist comments or a lack of support for women’s sports, there is a divide in support between men’s and women’s sports. Senior Hannah Heimann, who has played volleyball for all four years of high school, has noticed a lack of support for women’s sports. “I definitely have seen the difference between the support and hype between men’s and women’s sports. As a female athlete, I have noticed the big lack of support throughout the years in comparison to men’s. Not as many students show interest in women’s sports as per their own opinions,” Heimann said. Heimann continued, “The attendance has been weak for girls’ sports for years. There used to be a big support [for women’s sports], but it somehow has trickled off. Women’s sports do not have the same support as men’s, and that is really needed.” Activities director Jerry Collins does agree that there is a difference in crowd support between men’s and women’s sports. However, an issue of crowd support is not an administrative problem, but it falls on students. “As far as do people come to games differently, we would like them to. If you come to a game, it seemingly appears that there are more people at boys’ games than girls’ games, not always but typically. I don’t really have a good answer for why that is. There’s probably a lot of societal reasons or whatever may be the case. It’s obviously something that we’d like to see different, but I don’t know that it’s anything that we’re doing that’s not allowing that,” Collins said.
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Efforts have been made in promotion to increase crowd support for women’s games by administration, such as T-shirts, donated tickets or even dance clinics. “Promotionally, I don’t think there’s a difference. I mean, we have the same number of games. We try to run the games the same way, whether it’s soccer, track, basketball, whatever. I think administratively we make every effort to support them equally,” Collins said about any possible difference in promotion. Collins continued, “We try to promote them, we have their games at the same time. We try to d o
p r o motional things, like
they both usually have elementary days for basketball for example. We try to find ways for more people to come to their games. We have some games together, having the dance clinic at a girls game, and at that girls game there were a lot of people. It was one of the biggest crowds of the year for a girls’ game because we did that extra event with it. There are ways we
can help encourage that and promote the attendance of the girls games.” More than just student athletes have noticed the divide in support for men’s and women’s sports. Senior cheerleader Lillie Torbit has noticed a divide in support through cheering at games. “I can personally see the divide in support by just attendance at games. When I cheer for a girls’ basketball game, there won’t even be a student section. Last Saturday on the 5th, it was apparent with the double headers. There was clearly more support in the student section and stands for the boys’ game which happened after the girls’ game,” Torbit said. Varsity cheerleaders are required to go to all Varsity basketball games. Like other students, Torbit has overheard sexist remarks or excuses against women’s’ sports. “They [female athletes] are putting in the effort too, and it’s not being recognized because ‘it’s not entertaining’ or ‘the girls don’t get thrown around as much as the boys.’ These are all excuses I’ve heard as to why people don’t want to show up, and I’ve heard way more than just these two,” Torbit explained. Women’s’ Varsity basketball captain Ellie Paloucek has seen a divide firsthand. “I think there is a divide in women’s and men’s sports, even in high school. For example, the boys keep track of all their wins on a big sign in Roberts
Sports | Early April 2022
