It would not be hard to find 40-50 UT students at any given bar or club on a Friday night. It is a little more difficult, however, to find the same amount of students at a UT sporting event.
It’s been said before, but the lack of attendance at games is still unacceptable. A school of close to 6,000 students has trouble getting even one percent of the student body to go to a game.
It is not fair to the athletes and coaches who put so much work into creating a team worthy of much more recognition, especially from students.
UT is often referred to as being the home of national champions. This would not be possible without the championships won by the teams that practice all year for a chance to bring our school a title.
A good amount of students showed up to support the men’s soccer team in their final four game last December’hellip;but even with the stands almost full, it seemed difficult for the crowd to get into it and really get loud for the guys giving their all on the field.
The so-called ‘home field advantage’ is nothing without enthusiastic fans.
It is not hard to find out when the games are. The ‘In Crowd’ has done a good job at promoting events through Facebook messages, signs and even by word of mouth.
Yet even with all of the giveaways and many attempts at fan interaction, it still does not seem to be enough.
Two candidates for president and vice president in the recent SG election said that they wanted to try to get alcohol at the sporting events because they thought it would really boost school spirit.
For whatever reason, people would rather go out with their friends than go to a game, but why not do both?
Friday night games start around 7 p.m., and are finished by about 9 p.m. Most people don’t go out until 11 p.m. I don’t see how those two hours in between would not be enough time to get ready. It is, in fact, possible to do both.’ ‘
At the beginning of the school year, volleyball and soccer seemed to have pretty good turnouts, but as the year has progressed, the spirit seemed to decrease greatly.
The help of SG proved to be successful, packing the bleachers at events that they sponsored, but all games cannot be ‘black outs’ or ‘pink outs.’ Why does it take something like that for people to actually want to attend?
I am also subject to some bribery, having gone to a women’s soccer game only because I received a message on Facebook that acted as a coupon for a free ‘In Crowd’ shirt.
Regardless of the motives, every single game should see that kind of enthusiasm and spirit.