School spirit has been anything but spectacular this year. While we’ve never been the school with the largest crowds at football games, the number of fans coming out to games, home games at that, has been embarrassing.

People argue that students don’t come to the game because South’s football team doesn’t have the best record. Although, we’ve never had the best record, yet there were many games where the student section was at least halfway full, especially in 2012. While I cannot vouch for years previous to 2011, I have noticed a significant drop in student attendance since 2012.

Being part of the student section actually seemed like it would be enjoyable then; students were actually paying attention to the game, cheering and shouting chants such as “let’s go raiders” at every single game. There were very few dead moments throughout those games. This year, there have only been two games where a few students have actually cheered and chanted for our team for brief moments.

The lack of participation from the student section has also made the cheerleaders’ jobs harder, as they try to lead the crowd and cheer along with them, but with little to no spirit coming from the majority of the crowd, it just becomes awkward.

Besides simply showing school spirit at the games, the cheering also helps the football players on the field. People may not believe it, but the energy from a crowd does positively affect how athletes perform. This may be a factor as to why our team hasn’t done as well as they have in the past.

On the other hand, school spirit within the walls of South has increased. Many more students have noticeably participated in spirit days, deck the halls, and gone to other school events such as the bonfire and Homecoming. Why can’t that spirit transfer over to our sporting events?

Our football team’s record shouldn’t be the deciding factor of whether or not students come to the games. It’s an environment and social event that’s exciting. While I haven’t stood in the student section since freshman year, I cannot explain what it is truly like. I have stood on the sidelines for every single game though and seen the depreciation of spirit and people attending. Another issue is that, a lot of the students that do attend the games, leave by fourth quarter, even when the game is close. Why? That’s the most important time to cheer for your team and hopefully pull out a raider win. Students should want to come and show their raider pride at the football games, win or lose.

In the past, we have had a very nice attendance at basketball games. There have been similar issues happening though. Since our 2013 season, in which we went undefeated and won a state title, crowds have gotten slightly smaller as well. The student section was always filled to the top and the crowd was roaring from 2011-2013. In 2014 though, numbers started dropping, and the crowd was much, much more quiet, even when the other school’s crowd was screaming.

The school spirit at sporting events needs to come back this year. It motivates the players and makes the whole event more exciting. South’s student section needs to redeem themselves during basketball and bring back the school spirit we once had.