Julia Friedman ’11
Staff Writer
Staples has some of the most enthusiastic high school sports fans around. These passionate and dedicated fans are known as “superfans.”
Superfans come to games in herds. The boys body paint and the girls wear navy and white beads.
Whether they’re on the soccer pitch, football field, or basketball court, Staples’ athletes have the support of their superfans who “white out” the stands.
The spirit of these fans motivate players during big games, increase school spirit, and create a sense of community. However these fans are exclusive to certain sporting events.
At a boys’ soccer game, the hill is coated in white. At a girls’ game? Not so much.
We will never see superfans at a girls’ sporting event. I have been a member of the basketball team here at Staples for three years now.
We have fans. However, these fans are our parents, grandparents, and siblings.
The most student fans I ever recall seeing at a game was four. Four fans. In the same season, most of the boys games had over 40.
One of the reasons for this is that sports like soccer, basketball, lacrosse, and tennis have both boys’ and girls’ teams.
The games for the boys and girls are scheduled on the same day and usually at the same time. This forces fans to chose whether to go support the boys or the girls.
As you can see from my previous basketball example, the choice is clear.
It’s not fair to just blame this lack of support on the time of the games though. The quintessential “female” sport is field hockey. And quite honestly, I think it has a lot to do with the uniform.
I personally find it hard to take an athlete seriously when they’re wearing a skirt. The more I think about it though, this probably isn’t just a belief I have.
Whether people like to admit it or not, there is an element of sexism involved in their choice to support boys instead of girls.
A stereotype for high school athletics is that the pride of every school is its football team. This generalization is no different at Staples.
The games with the highest attendance are football games. Now let’s think about this for a second. There is no sport more masculine than football. The testosterone levels on that field are higher than on any other arena of play.
So the sport that is known for being “manly” has the highest attendance, and then sports like field hockey are lucky if they see any fans at all.
Although it may not be the most well-liked opinion, mine is this: men’s sports are flat out more entertaining, competitive, and athletically demanding than women’s.
There may be a few exceptions to this, but generally speaking I would much rather see a boys’ soccer game than a girls one.
Yes, this is a little sexist. Yes, this is a little hypocritical. But to all of you who are now reading this and rolling your eyes in disbelief that a female could hold this view, should take a look in the mirror.
Ask yourself which game you would rather attend: football or field hockey. Your response will probably be the same as mine.
