At every Anderson High School football home game a small group of dedicated students come out to support our team. These students dress up and cheer on our football players to promote school spirit. However even with our large student population very few attend these games.
Every home game Cooper King is in front of the crowd banging a drum and leading chants. King said, “I do my best to lead our student section and bring good vibes even if we’re not doing well on the field.” Despite our reputation of not having the best football team King thinks it is still important to come out and support when you can. King believes that, “Even if we aren’t the best at something, coming out and supporting your school and friends is very important when representing the student body.”
Despite this many believe that attendance to football games has declined since years past. King shared this opinion he said, “The classes of 23 and 24 were very strong and involved. As time has gone by, I have noticed somewhat of a decline in student involvement.”
Lucas Taylor who is a senior and goes to the games as a videographer also agrees. He states “I feel like my freshman year the student section was amazing.”
Someone who would not know what the student section was like in years past is Julia Tibbett, a sophomore at Anderson High School. This is Tibbetts first year going to games and she said, “Our student section is pretty sad.” Despite this she still keeps coming out to games and enjoys it. “I like being in the student section and cheering,” said Tibbett.
People say the main problem with our student section is we don’t have enough people coming out and cheering. Tibbett agrees she said, “It (the student section) would be better if we had more people especially if they dressed up in the themes.”
King also agrees with this opinion but to a lesser extent. King said, “We get a decent crowd and some spirited students, however I wish we had more.”
So if everyone who goes enjoys themselves what is stopping more people from coming out. Well the one people kept saying is it’s hard to cheer for a losing team. King said, ”Sometimes it’s hard for students to come out to the games, especially watching it in the student section because football isn’t our strong suit.”
Taylor agreed with this opinion saying that, “If our team sucks then no one wants to watch it.” This shows that it’s not a lack of school spirit that leads to a small student section, it’s a lack of motivation to watch a losing team.
The other thing that all three of my interviews mentioned is how amazing our basketball student section is. King said, “At basketball games, our student section can be really strong, and that also has to do with the strength of our team.”