Women’s basketball at CHS has been dominating the competition this year being 10-1 in their league and 18-4 overall. But even with their wins, there is one aspect where they lack: their support from peers.
Recently, more elementary and middle school students have grabbed Pom poms and flocked to the student section during the games to help cheer on the team. Kindergartener Lauren McCarley was among the youngest ones supporting the girls.
“My favorite part about being in the student section was doing all of the cheers and being there to help the team,” McCarley said.
But when the game neared its end, the high school students moved in and the younger kids were forced to leave. But instead of cheering them on, they sat and waited for the boy’s basketball game to begin.
“It was really rude when they kicked us out,” McCarley said. “And then they didn’t cheer the girls on.”
Unfortunately, this wasn’t a one-time thing. On many occasions, the student section shows little to no interest in the girls’ team and only waits for the following game to begin.
“In girls’ games, for example, when we played away at Dexter the student section sat down for the whole game but they stood for the whole boys’ game,” junior Avery Lay said. “So this discrepancy between the two is also a big difference between the student sections for girls and boys.”
While some may see the younger kids in the student section as unfit that non-high school students are in the student section, some players such as Lay enjoy the presence of the younger crowd.
“It’s uplifting and empowering to see the little girls cheer on women’s basketball,” Lay said. “I used to be in that position when I was in elementary school, and I really looked up to the high schoolers that played at the time. So I just think it’s really cool that we get a lot of support from younger kids.”
But one of the reasons these kids have had the opportunity to be a part of the student section is because of the lack of high school support in the student section. With many coming to watch the boys’ games afterward, it is surprising to many that they wouldn’t come to watch the girls’ team.
“I think that the boys’ basketball program gets a lot more student support at their games,” Lay said. “Not necessarily community support, but from the student perspective. Their student section will go to away games and stand up during their warm-ups and games. They will cheer loudly even if it’s a blowout.”
Junior Naomi Ratliff has been to many of the girl’s games. From this, she has noticed the big difference between the two teams.
“The boys are used to having students come, but the girls don’t really get that and even though they’re younger kids, I think that they can also be more positive and uplifting than a lot of high school student sections,” Ratliff said. “And so the fact that the girls get this positive and uplifting cheering throughout the game, I think is really beneficial.”
But maybe this is a bigger issue, expanding beyond high school sports and even to the professional level where the discrepancies between the sports still stick around.
“It’s a universal thing for boys and girls sports,” Ratliff said. “There are so many articles on college and professional sports like the WNBA versus the NBA and how hardly anyone will go to the WNBA over the NBA. And I think that translates to high school as well, it’s been just women versus men sports.”
