By Valeria Benitez
Whether it is a neon theme or white-out theme, Gibbs Feinour, one of Lovett’s Ultras, loves to get everyone excited on campus for games. No matter the sport, she wants all student-athletes to feel like they are supported.
Take the Pace game this fall. Gibbs told me that she and Kieran came up with the pajama theme: Night Night Knights! The student section that night was amazing because everyone was cheering and it kept us on our toes because the win could have gone to either side.
But sometimes she feels a little disappointed that we can’t always reach that Pace energy. “I thought it was kind of sad on senior night when no one was really there,” Gibbs said. The seniors always seem to show out, she said, but above the first three rows of the student section, she doesn’t even see people’s mouths moving. Whenever people don’t cheer “it’s annoying,” Gibbs said because the players are out there on the field trying their hardest.
Although we lost to Luella it was a very fun game to watch because first it was one of the most desired themes (U.S.A) and secondly everyone stayed till the end. “It really showed how it is important when we have fans rallying around,” Gibbs added because the fans’ energy led Lovett to keep a close score.
Now, one of the reasons the student section is lacking so much is the freshmen. In fact, the Ultras called us out at the game and at morning assembly. As a freshman, I think most people in my grade were not used to being at football games as high school fans. Last year, going to a football game meant walking around the track and eating Kona Ice since we weren’t allowed in the student section. I think it is going to take some time for the freshmen to get used to cheering.
Gibbs has certainly tried to help. “One game I literally went up to the freshmen and stood up with them to help them cheer, so we could all do it together,” Gibbs said.
I talked to freshman Florencia Cruz (also known as Cece), about her opinion on the student section and she told me that she thinks “our student section could definitely be more hype, especially toward the end of the season.” She added that freshmen are also part of the problem and that “more freshmen should put in more effort and go with the themes when they show up to the games.”
Keyuri Patel, another freshman, had a different perspective. She told me that part of the problem was the music and that it would improve if the music was more “hype.” She said that it can also get very clumped up in the student section, and is one of the main reasons most people leave.
“Even though the freshmen don’t really add to the student section in any way, we are not the complete problem,” Keyuri added.
But Sidney Wynn agreed with Cece, telling me that “the freshmen have no joy and they don’t act hype at all.” He told me how he tries his best to help Gibbs out by telling our grade to go out, but they just won’t listen. We will need to step up our game if we want the next 3 years to be fun, Sidney added.
Whether we win or lose, everyone deserves to experience a hype student section. It doesn’t matter if the freshmen or the music is the problem. Instead of blaming something for the lack of excitement in our student section, we should find a way to improve so that by the time we’re seniors, we can shake the stands, and so can the freshmen.
