As I watched the State Semi-Finals for girls’ volleyball held at UMCP, the sight of Sherwood HS supporters sitting to my right disgusted me. Why must we sit on the same side of the bleachers? Why, when their dull blue is so different than our exquisite green, must the colors simultaneuosly be present among the crowd, even when they refuse merge?
As these questions surfaced, I joined in on the “We can’t hear you!” cheers so rightly started by WJ’s SGA officers in order to taunt our opponent. They replied with a unified drum-roll created by the soles of their feet, and I felt sick to my stomach. We shifted our focus from jeering at the crowd to jeering at a girl named Natalie, who was serving the ball from the Sherwood side, in front of our half of the crowd. “You won the last serve by luck, Natalie,” I yelled from my position in the bleachers. She missed, and pleasure coursed through me.
The goal of both sides of the crowd was clear: demoralize the opponent to a point where they get nervous, hopefully missing a point. Ultimately, regardless of what sport, nobody wants to be on the losing team. Supporters resort to whatever means necessary, as long as they believe that it is helping their team win.
However, more often than not, this has a negative impact on a team’s performance. For example, immediately after our battle cries died out from Natalie’s failed serve, we missed seven points in a row.
No, I am not suggesting that bad karma ultimately caught up to us. However, while we were too busy criticizing one flat serve of the opponent, we forgot to fulfill the duty a crowd has towards its team: cheer for our own team.The role of crowds at a game is to make their own players feel that someone is rooting for them. The point of going to a game is to encourage the team you support, not discourage the one you don’t. At least, that is what it should be.
Promoting our own team is not the equivalent of ridiculing the ‘opponents’. While it may have temporary benefits, in the long run, supporters need to show their teams that they have support, not make the other team feel like they don’t.
