2008 Woodie Awards
Collegian View
Issue date: 1/10/06 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
GaelForce has done a wonderful job these past couple of years. It is by far the largest club on campus, with well over 700 members. Last year multiple busses of students traveled to Santa Clara to create a strong Saint Mary's student section at the WCC finals. School spirit has never been higher.
There's just one thing missing at the games in our student section: organization.
We do want to commend the leadership of GaelForce for working so hard to increase student attendance at home basketball games (resulting in only one home loss last year). They have done an amazing job in building up GaelForce and creating an electric environment at home games.
Because of that, we think it's time to take the next step. Someone needs to be appointed or otherwise designated the "leader" of the student section? Whether this is someone formally appointed by GaelForce or informally chosen by popular demand (i.e. the "Blue Crew"), doesn't really matter. But someone needs to do it. Upperclassmen know the success of the Blue Crew (before they graduated) had in energizing students at the game. They've left now, and the gap is obvious. We need some leadership in the stands.
Why? Because Saint Mary's fans, while loud and boisterous, lack the unity that truly defines a strong student fan base.
First, there seem to be only two chants at Saint Mary's home games: offensive ("S-M-C!") and defensive ("Defense! Defense!"). Can't we be a little more creative?
Second, these chants show up sporadically in the stands, and often sections of fans are competing against each other in their chanting. Other times the gym will fall silent during key moments of the game, when the team needs our support, because there is no one to lead a cheer.
Third, Saint Mary's students need to be told that it sounds stupid to chant "overrated" over and over to a Gonzaga team that has only lost to us once in the past six years, and has been ranked for practically that whole time. Or to taunt the Division-III Santa Cruz team with chants of "up by fifty." Come on, guys, they're practically a high school team. There's a fine line between spirit and bullying.
Visit most other schools known for their strong student sections and they have what we lack: students leading students in support of their team. We have the same amount of students as those schools, but often all that is heard at games is a cacophany of screams, chants, and sadly, even vulgarities.
At last Saturday's Gonzaga game, it was an alum, sitting in the courtside seats, who eventually stood up and began to lead the pumped up crowd.
Now it's great that this alum has so much school spirit, but shouldn't a student be doing this? The cheerleading team tries their hardest, but fans never really seem to pick up on that.
What we need is a student or two to step up, either through GaelForce or otherwise, grab a megaphone and take the reins. We have the numbers. What we need is a spirited someone to help turn McKeon pavilion from having 700 students to having one strong student section cheering on our Gaels with a loud, united voice.
There's just one thing missing at the games in our student section: organization.
We do want to commend the leadership of GaelForce for working so hard to increase student attendance at home basketball games (resulting in only one home loss last year). They have done an amazing job in building up GaelForce and creating an electric environment at home games.
Because of that, we think it's time to take the next step. Someone needs to be appointed or otherwise designated the "leader" of the student section? Whether this is someone formally appointed by GaelForce or informally chosen by popular demand (i.e. the "Blue Crew"), doesn't really matter. But someone needs to do it. Upperclassmen know the success of the Blue Crew (before they graduated) had in energizing students at the game. They've left now, and the gap is obvious. We need some leadership in the stands.
Why? Because Saint Mary's fans, while loud and boisterous, lack the unity that truly defines a strong student fan base.
First, there seem to be only two chants at Saint Mary's home games: offensive ("S-M-C!") and defensive ("Defense! Defense!"). Can't we be a little more creative?
Second, these chants show up sporadically in the stands, and often sections of fans are competing against each other in their chanting. Other times the gym will fall silent during key moments of the game, when the team needs our support, because there is no one to lead a cheer.
Third, Saint Mary's students need to be told that it sounds stupid to chant "overrated" over and over to a Gonzaga team that has only lost to us once in the past six years, and has been ranked for practically that whole time. Or to taunt the Division-III Santa Cruz team with chants of "up by fifty." Come on, guys, they're practically a high school team. There's a fine line between spirit and bullying.
Visit most other schools known for their strong student sections and they have what we lack: students leading students in support of their team. We have the same amount of students as those schools, but often all that is heard at games is a cacophany of screams, chants, and sadly, even vulgarities.
At last Saturday's Gonzaga game, it was an alum, sitting in the courtside seats, who eventually stood up and began to lead the pumped up crowd.
Now it's great that this alum has so much school spirit, but shouldn't a student be doing this? The cheerleading team tries their hardest, but fans never really seem to pick up on that.
What we need is a student or two to step up, either through GaelForce or otherwise, grab a megaphone and take the reins. We have the numbers. What we need is a spirited someone to help turn McKeon pavilion from having 700 students to having one strong student section cheering on our Gaels with a loud, united voice.