There are many aspects to sports in general, one of the most overlooked aspects is the cheering and supporting part. Fall sports have just begun and volleyball is no exception, the Briar Woods Falcons Volleyball team are a month into their season and have been doing phenomenal. One thing lacking is our student section for not only away games but for our home games too. Riverside volleyball is one of our biggest competitors with a very hype student section. Riverside volleyball has not lost a game so far and are hard to beat. Something that helps the players so much more than people think is cheering, ¨Hearing cheers from people not on your team is so encouraging, I love it¨ said freshman Marisa Barreto.
Student sections help players so much with the aspect of it being encouraging, engaging and just overall making the players on the court feeling supported. Student sections and crowds for sports like football are gigantic, but volleyball tends to be overlooked these days. Volleyball is rapidly growing more and more these past few years but for some reason the student section rate has been going down with this growth. One observation seen by Varsity assistant coach Ella Anderatta ¨ We had massive student sections,” ¨They were packed,” ¨It was definitely larger than it is now.” Having a crowd plays so much into the mentality of players, so if we have a large student section for hard and competitive teams like Riverside we would definitely see a push.
Our student section currently consists of our volleyball programs and on the occasion freshman football. As said, Anderetta ¨Shout out football, freshman football.” Other than the occasional games we mostly have only parents attending. Students sections matter so much not only with helping our team feel confident and ready, but also in getting into the heads of other hard opponents, like Riverside.
Now to get more into one of our competitors Riverside volleyball we see an insight into the program and student section at Riverside by fellow faculty member and Riverside mom Nina Eddinger. ¨ It definitely depends on who we are playing, student sections for games like Briar and Indy would definitely be bigger than usual, but other than that it is rather in the middle.” This is how Ms.Eddinger describes the student section for Riverside.
Student sections help so much with not only the playing but also the way the player feels/thinks. As we see throughout this piece so many people have such strong things about the impacts and importance of having a student section for games. So come support our Falcons Volleyball team On the Sep.30th against the Riverside Rams, and also for any coming games you can make it to check the schedule on the Briar Woods Falcons Volleyball Instagram As freshmen volleyball player Marrisa Barrato says ¨who doesn’t like volleyball !¨
