Low attendance is affecting student athletes
According to the National Women’s Law Center, nearly 28 percent of public schools have large gender inequality in sports (any number higher than 10 percent is alarming). WHHS has over 20 sports with either a men’s, women’s or a co-ed team. A poll showed that a majority of WHHS students felt as if women’s sports were less popular than men’s sports at the high school and junior high level.
Tahj Lee, ‘20, believes this is because women’s sports “aren’t as interesting” as men’s sports. Beliefs like this can have a negative effect on the morale of our female athletes.
Feeling underappreciated can have an adverse effect on participation. SENIOR Abby Hutzel believes that women’s sports are less popular at WHHS because of the age-old ideal that football “rules the school.” Football’s apparent dominance comes from an unjust system that we created. Professional football is very popular, and these athletes make very high salaries.
Our football team is only the sixth best team in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference, just ahead of Withrow and Loveland. Even still, they get the most recognition and hype throughout the school due to continuous support. Cheerleaders and football players alike push us to buy tickets to their games, follow the themes and hype up our players every Friday. Though there is nothing wrong with keeping morale and school spirit up, we should try to hype up our other teams who may also be struggling, but have less support from our students.
When WHHS students were asked what the school could do to encourage you to attend more games, many students said they should be publicized more on the announcements. “Make more announcements about girls’ games instead of talking so much about football,” Junior Varsity Cross Country runner Sarah Minning, ‘21, said. If we change this, there is a very strong chance that attendance will rise expediently.
When students were asked how high attendance at their games make them feel, many reported feeling supported, encouraged and recognized by their peers. This feeling can change the climate of the entire game for a team. “We have had one game in which there was high attendance, and it was at Oak Hills. They brought cheerleaders and their marching band and there was a huge student section… it made me feel special and play harder because it just felt overall more important and noticed,” Tamar Sella, ‘21, said.
The Nuthouse, a student-led cheering section, tries their best to give this feeling to all teams, but considering the school has so many games that go on at once, they don’t have time to give their full attention and motivation to all teams. Students need to start turning up to more games and making their teams feel supported.
The Athletic Department claims to strive to promote gender equality. “We provide opportunities for our student-athletes and also put them in a position to be successful once they leave the Athletic Department,” Athletic Director Steve Ellison said.
Whether or not this is true, there is still a discrepancy between men’s equipment and women’s. “We all got long sleeves, but the boys get extra things like rain jackets,” SENIOR Erin Egan, captain of the Women’s Varsity Soccer team, said.
The Athletic Department defends their actions with Title IX. According to the NCAA, it is illegal for any federally funded organization to deny equal opportunity or benefits on the basis of sex. But, there are still more discrepancies that make a huge difference in the morale of women’s sports teams.
Soccer players, like Egan, are frustrated that the boys always get to practice in Marx Stadium while the girls have to practice at the South Field. Similarly, even the junior varsity baseball team gets priority of the indoor facility over varsity softball. The inequality is astounding.
And so, at our school with over 20 sports, we still lack equality in representation of women’s teams. This is unacceptable and needs to be addressed by our faculty and students alike. It is our duty to change the climate of women’s sports. Let’s make the teams feel more supported by showing up and screaming for them. They deserve the same amount of Eagle pride as the guys.
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