On Friday nights in the fall, the football student section is packed. It feels like the entire student body and staff is present at the games. No matter the opponent, the cheer team chants and gets the whole school hyped and the bleachers shake. The entire atmosphere feels electric and energized. That kind of support gets the Big Sky football athletes all pumped up and creates a sense of unity. I wish it was the same for Big Sky wrestling.
For Big Sky, the average duel feels quiet and the energy isn’t quite there, especially when the concept is basically two men or women fighting each other. Without the same supportive energy seen at football games from students and staff, the duels can feel flat and the intensity off. A packed gym helps lift the athletes and puts good expectations in their minds.
I am a senior varsity wrestler representing Big Sky and have been at it for all four years of high school. I love wrestling to death, but it is a very hard sport. We condition with full on live wrestling goes, sprints, and hard strength and conditioning for at least two hours a day. We spend a lot of time training even months before the season starts. Wrestling is one of the most physically demanding sports in the school because it requires extreme year-round conditioning and strict weight management. We spend hours practicing hard and pair it with a weight cut.
Despite all of our hard work, if it weren’t for our loving parents and fellow teammates, the meets would be almost dead silent. Personally, I’ve had matches where even at a home duel the loudest people in the room were the other team or the ref’s whistle.
I asked Jennifer Courtney, Big Sky High School’s principal, why the wrestling team doesn’t get the band or the cheer team or even the student section. Courtney said, “The cheer team doesn’t know how to cheer for the wrestling team.”
This to me sparks a problem. Why doesn’t the school teach them how to cheer? Wrestling isn’t some obscure activity, in fact, it’s one of the oldest sports in the world. I don’t think the lack of being familiar with the sport is an excuse for us to not get some of the glory every once and a while.
It seems other schools have it figured out across the state, but not Big Sky. Some teams have their cheerleaders and student section attend duels, but never us. Wrestling might not be as big or popular as football at school, however it’s not any less exciting. During Butte duels, their team’s parents and student section is so roaring that it’s annoying to wrestle them. Every time one of their wrestlers scores, they all chant.
Bringing school spirit to duels would send a message to me and my fellow wrestlers that we matter just as much as the next sport, and it would also get our morale up and our motivation to win for our school. There are a couple simple solutions to this problem. We could dedicate one or two home duels as an official student section night, and have themes. Second, the school could treat us with the same respect as everyone else.
As a wrestler for the team, I don’t ask for any special recognition or some extravagant thing, however I do ask for equal recognition as football or basketball. Wrestling requires the same discipline and sacrifice as any other sport, and we represent our school with the same kind of pride. When a school supports all athletes equally, it sends a message that every sport and athlete matters.
