Joe’s Perspective: High school is supposed to be fun, not endured. It’s also supposed to be innocent fun. Part of that fun is having an engaged and spirited student section. It brings most of the students together for a common cause. And, no, your team doesn’t have to be great for the students to show this kind of spirit. It makes me sad that my daughter goes to home football games and only about 50 students are attending, and they are not sitting together to cheer on the team. I know all that she is missing out on.
When I was in high school, we had hundreds of kids in the student section. We didn’t wait for the cheerleaders to initiate a cheer, we made up our own cheers. At basketball games, we would collectively bring over 100 rolls of toilet paper and throw it on the court after our team scored their first point. We brought newspapers and pretended to read it when the opposing team was introduced, and yell, “Who cares.” It was goofy and childish, but it is some of my best memories from high school. I think our football team was 3-6 my senior year and our basketball team was just over .500. And yet, we had the best student section.
Every high school student should be able to experience this type of energy. It is a bonding experience. The popular kids standing right beside the skateboarders and the brainiacs. Below I am providing a couple of random videos from high school student sections across the country. In both videos, I have no idea what they are saying and doing, but I know they are having fun. My wish for you is that you will find ways to bring this type of energy to your high school. It doesn’t start with the administration or the parents, it can only start with you. Students set the tone and you establish traditions for younger students to follow when they get to high school.
Your Turn: On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your student section at your school? What can you do to build student spirit?
