Many sports have been feeling underappreciated in the past few years. Local papers and students tend to pay more attention to football and basketball and forget about a lot of the other sports at Placer High School.

            Tennis, Golf, Cross Country, Wrestling and Softball have all been very successful lately; however, they have not been receiving as much credit as they deserve. Aaron Lee, Placer tennis team member said:

“People think it’s a girly sport and that it doesn’t compare to football.”

Because it isn’t as aggressive of a sport some people find it boring to watch, but that shouldn’t mean tennis doesn’t get credited for having more consecutive league titles than any other sport.

            It may come as a surprise to many people, but the girls’ golf team actually donates money to charities every year. They aren’t just a local high school golf team who practices to win; they also make a difference in our community.  The team is used to not getting recognition because they understand some people may not like to watch the game since it isn’t as fast-paced as others, but Elia Rivas of the team said:

“It always feels good to be appreciated.” All they ask is for some more support and for their meets to be announced in bulletins.

            “Last year we won sections,” said Christian Finkbeiner, a junior on the Cross Country team. The team has been quite successful this last year, but the only people who have been there to support the team are the athletes’ parents.

“I think if more students came to watch we would do a lot better,” added Finkbeiner. And what team wouldn’t want to do better?

            Last year, wrestling was forced to practice in the cafeteria because the school took away their wrestling room. The wrestling team had been winning before they took it away, but it made their practices a lot more difficult.

“We had to do a lot of work rolling up the mats and cleaning up everyday,” said Mark Looney, a senior on the wrestling team. Now the wrestling team has a replacement room in between the language building and the math hall, but he said it still isn’t the same.

            “I like to play [softball] but everyone says it’s boring to watch,” expressed Paige Mayberry of the softball team. It may look boring, but it’s a lot harder than it looks. The team is used to the only fans being parents, but would like a little credit. It’s most common for girls to go to guys’ games, but very rarely does the opposite happen.

            Many teams at Placer feel that their sport does not get recognized as it should. Most sports have complained about their games not being advertised and people not appreciating the skill that it takes to play the sport. Most of the teams that are underappreciated are actually some of the most successful sports at Placer High School.