The Needed Equilibrium

It’s finally football season! But guess what? Not everyone is excited about the frenzy. In high schools everywhere, football overshadows other fall sports and for those athletes, football season isn’t just football season.

All athletes will tell you that their sport is the most important one and although I cannot justify that, I can justify that all athletes are equally as passionate about their sport. I spoke with Licking Valley soccer player Kate Donchess (Senior Soccer Player) about the topic. From a soccer player’s perspective Donchess mentioned that, “Football players complain about soccer using ‘their’ field”. This has been an ongoing debate for many years now. Whose field is it? When football players are on it, it is the football field. But when soccer players are on it, it is the soccer field.

On the flipside of whose turf it is, what about how well attended the games/meets are? Every Friday, the hallways are buzzing excitedly with chats about the football game. “Are you going?” “What’s the theme?” “What are you wearing?” “Who’s jersey is she wearing?” Talk about the game seems to be the most inviting topic of the entire school. But what about other sports? You don’t often hear people asking when the next cross country meet is.

Football brings an entire community together. People of all ages come and support the local team. It’s a time for family and friends and rivals to all be together and have a good time. But why is that for only football? Any sport has the capability to bring a community together. But for centuries now, we have idolized football as the collective fall sport.

In today’s age, it is about time that we make an effort to give soccer, cross country, volleyball and golf a chance to shine. We’ve all worked hard and put our time and effort into something that we love doing. Shouldn’t we all be recognized for that?