Where is Your Panther Pride?

The fall sports season is in full swing and the CLHS spirit club, the Panther Pack, is hard at work trying to drum up attention around campus for our sports teams. However, some students say it’s not enough.

Our biggest crowd drawing sports of this season have been football and volleyball. With both sports seeing more than double the amount of attendance from August to September.

 

AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
TOTAL

Football
773
1883
2656

Volleyball
232
537
769

 

With the CLHS varsity football team boasting a 4-2 record and hopefully on the way to a repeat district championship, it was expected that the student section would be packed every Friday night. However this has not been the case, in fact by halftime it’s typically emptied out and the few remaining students don’t bother to cheer unless something major happens. This has long been the complaint of the members of the Panther Pack.

But why is seemingly nobody willing to support their peers? A number of students cited that they are often busy at home, work, or catching up on schoolwork. Another large portion of the student body is unable to find transportation to games consistently. However Panther Pack leadership questions why students who do come to the games tend to sit at the far end of the bleachers and not cheer for their team. “I go to the games to watch, but I don’t know anybody well enough in the student section to join,” said Yelin Marroquin

Lack of hype is another reason, said Lorian Moore. “There isn’t enough hype around our sports programs,” Moore said. “There often isn’t enough people in the student section to encourage more people to join in.” 

According to attendance records (see table), fans are attending games at an increasing rate, but the student section shrinks weekly. It’s a simple diffusion of responsibility. Nobody wants to be the one to start cheering. However, Panther Pack remains committed to encouraging more participation in the student sections at the upcoming volleyball and football home games.