Opinion: Crowds are listless at games
The Days Creek crowd watches as senior Keith Gaskell attempts a shot last Saturday against Mohawk.
January 31, 2023
Someone tell the crowd at the Days Creek gymnasium that the hardwood is home to pretty good basketball teams this winter. From the sound of it, the audience seems to think that they are there to watch tennis or chess.
Filling the bleachers has never been a problem at Days Creek, no matter if it’s a school night or on the weekend. And the Wolves field quality teams each winter. Days Creek’s boys are 11-8 and tied for second in the Skyline League standings. The girls are farther back in the win column, but have won four of their last five games.
But when the Wolves do well at home games, their reward is muted clapping and scattered cheers. It’s not uncommon for visiting team’s crowds to outshout Big Red fans, and it’s embarrassing.
The Tiller-Trail Times is calling out home fans to be more active at basketball and volleyball games, yell louder and get more organized.
A handful of students have attempted to organize cheers in the northwest corner of the gym. Bailey Stufflebeam, Lyris Berlingeri, Mariah Gallagher and 2022 graduate Shandiin Newton deserve credit for getting cheers going. But few fans join in and these students can only do so much if the spirit isn’t contagious.
Too many listless fans — some of them adults — sit in the student section and watch games silently, taking away a seat from a rowdier Days Creek student.
Being a 1A school, Days Creek doesn’t have the advantages of a cheerleading team or a pep band. In their absence, the Days Creek student council should encourage students to attend games and bring their school spirit at the weekly DiscoverU assembly.
If opposing fans start to sound louder than Days Creek fans, they should automatically be overwhelmed with chants of “Go, Big Red!”
Did you know that Days Creek Charter School has a fight song? Too few students do. It should be posted on a permanent billboard and be played over the sound system after games.
An atmosphere is missing at Days Creek. With a livelier crowd, perhaps our basketball and volleyball teams would be lifted from being just good to great.