Are fans being too aggressive towards student athletes?
September 25, 2014
By Ariana West
Messenger Staff Writer
“What the heck is wrong with you? You shouldn’t be on the varsity team!” a fan yelled at girls basketball player Adya Harbour. Harbour just looked away and decided to ignore the rude remarks. All she had done was accidentally made a bad pass and threw the ball out of bounds.
“It scared me a little bit and made me feel kind of bad, like I let my team down.” Harbour said. Afterwards, her coach told her that it’s fine and that everyone makes mistakes, and not to worry about it. Even though her coach telling her that made her feel a little bit better, it still really affected her and the way she played during the rest of the game.
Yet this does not just affect the players in basketball; it is a school wide problem.
“People just get way more into the game then they should and say stupid things that they don’t mean. It’s up to you whether or not you stoop down to their level.” Ferreira said. After speaking with JV football player Mikey Ferreira, I learned that he’s been yelled at by fans as well. Mikey chooses to ignore it because it’s not worth it.
On the other hand, girls JV volleyball player, Kaede Kita has never been attacked by a fan. “I honestly think it’s funny to see people freak out, I mean at least they’re being supportive of their school and getting into it. I’d rather see people yelling and going crazy then sitting there and not even watching the game.” stated Kita. So there are different sides to the story and everyone has their own opinion on the subject.