By Caitlin Acker

Staff Writer

    Despite the improvement of the varsity girls’ basketball team throughout the years, the stands have remained empty. If you’ve ever paid a visit to a girls’ basketball game, you would likely witness the lack of support from the students. 

    Although R.J. Reynolds High School has strived to represent the girls’ basketball team, it hasn’t made an impact on attendance. This greatly affects the team’s effort during the games. Varsity player Briana Gordon feels that they would thrive with a larger crowd. 

    “Fan attendance has a huge impact on the team’s effort,” Gordon said. “The fans give you an energy boost and an adrenaline rush that pumps up the team. The fans give you confidence and create positive pressure to perform well.”

    The fans not only affect the basketball team, but they also impact the RJR Dancing Boots. The Boots perform at both the girls’ and boys’ halftime. As a member of the Dancing Boots, I’ve found that due to the smaller number of people at the girls’ games, it is harder to give a full effort performance. The fans play a big role in hyping up the team and getting us ready to perform with full energy. There is a noticeable difference between the team’s energy at the girls’ and boys’ games.

     Although the basketball girls also struggle with motivation, they don’t let this dwindle their spirit. Many of the girls believe the team’s dynamic stands strong despite the number of people in the stands. Varsity captain Hattie Boone enjoys how the team operates and how bonded they are with one another, even without much support from the fans.

    “Our team is very close, I’d say, especially regarding our younger, dynamic, and smaller team,” Boone said. “I don’t think that the lack of fans really changes our connection with each other on or off the court, but I think that sometimes more support would help us celebrate more after big wins.”

       One may wonder why there’s such a small crowd for the girls’ games? Could it be due to the earlier start time? The Rowdies are a major reason for the small student section. The students’ motive to attend games usually stems from the Rowdies. They encourage students to show up by posting on Instagram, which we haven’t seen much of for the girls’ basketball games. According to the Rowdies, they have a good reason to only attend men’s games.    

    “It would be a really long time for us to be there if we attended both the boys’ and the girls’ games,” senior rowdy William Martin said. “We would be there for multiple hours at a time, making it hard to balance school work and other activities. The reason we can even go to the boys’ games is that we use the time after school to get our work done.”

    Over time, the girls on the team have adapted to the desolate environment of the games. Will our school continue to settle for the insufficient atmosphere we’ve created for this team? 

    The main goal for our school is to promote inclusion and support for every student at RJR. It is imperative that we strive for a change in this system and boost the attendance at girls’ games.