In the Northview student section, bleachers are packed with screaming fans supporting their team. Lots of different chants and cheers can be heard during these games, and at times, it can be very chaotic. Simple chants at basketball games such as yelling “airball” when an opposing team misses a basket or trying to mess up a free throw by screaming as loud as possible are all examples of this friendly rivalry that accompanies these games.
However, there is a fine line between seeking a competitive advantage through student section cheering and hateful speech.
I believe that it is completely acceptable to partake in the normal, harmless cheers if no one crosses the line and keeps the chants respectful.
A good rule of thumb, in my opinion, is to not yell unacceptable outbursts that are offensive to a racial identity, offensive to a specific player’s physical appearance, mocking the LGBTQ+ community, or are misogynistic.
I can assure you, however, that through my personal account of the student section in action, some students do not understand the difference between harmless feuds and discrimination.
At the Northview versus South Christian varsity basketball game on December 10th, the South Christian student section chanted a very hateful phrase that essentially body-shamed a Northview player, telling him to ‘go eat a salad.’ While in the student section during this game, I felt a shift in the attitude of the students. The atmosphere became angry, and our student section retaliated by becoming more aggressive toward the other team.
While I’m sure not everyone in their student section agreed with chanting such offensive words, the group is remembered by their weakest link. The same can be said about Northview’s rude cheers in return.
Hateful speech like this leads to disrespect, not just competition, between schools. This also disrespects the games and the players.
Senior and student section leader Jada Barnes Ross understands the competitive attitude at games but still urges people to remember their words matter.
“I say when schools aren’t respectful towards our team, it’s all in the moment, but you have to know when to keep it classy and take into account they are humans, too,” Barnes Ross said. “It’s a game at the end of the day, and we both wish for our teams to win. But no matter what, the things you say could affect someone. Think before you say it.”
An even more detrimental example of discrimination was in Jenison’s student section during their basketball game against Wyoming on December 16th.
During a Wyoming free throw taken by a black player, some of Jenison’s student section decided to amplify the normal disruptions and yells by making racist taunts and monkey noises. This has become a huge discussion amongst the community about racism still alive and well in schools, despite some people in society who still believe this isn’t a pressing issue.
Actions have now been taken by Jenison faculty to force amends, but this does not undo the hateful cheers. In an article on MLive, Jenison Superintendent Brandon Grahams expressed his disdain for the actions of some Jenison students during the aforementioned game.
“This is sickening to me and does not represent the Wildcat Way character traits we expect all of our students to live out. More importantly, it does not represent who we are, who we aspire to be, or the behavior we accept at [Jenison Public Schools],” Graham said.
Our high school is not immune to these issues, either. Every time I’ve been involved in the student section, I’ve noticed harmful language and even derogatory slurs yelled by the fans. This language crosses the line of friendly rivalry and therefore needs to be eradicated.
Boys varsity basketball assistant coach Derek Brooks has seen the kind of language used at games, and while he believes it is not a good representation of our school, he still takes some pride in the fact that our school isn’t near the inappropriate level of other schools.
“We can’t control what [students] do on their side, but we know how we hold ourselves at Northview, but I do agree that sometimes things get out of hand,” Brooks said. “But I’ve been to other schools and heard other schools and it’s a lot worse in other places. You just have to cheer on your team the way you want to cheer your team on and however they cheer for their team and whatever they chant [players] just have to block it out.”
While I don’t believe there should be a set outline for which cheers are or aren’t acceptable at sporting events, an administrator or faculty member should be able to have some control over what is said by the student section in order to prevent events such as Northview v. South Christian and Jenison v. Wyoming from happening again.
Students also need to be mature and not take advantage of the freedom they receive at these games due to the ability to act as a group as opposed to individually. While they should participate in friendly banter and taunts, students need to be sure to stay respectful to other teams and their athletes.
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