Viewpoint: Girls sports deserve more respect
Photo by Photo used with permission of Patrick Hart
Grace Kinsey (2018 graduate) shoots at the hoop during the Warren Vs Lake Zurich Sectional Final. Girls sports, like Girls basketball, have been disrespected and overlooked for far too long, they deserve respect from their peers.
Fan size is an important factor for competitive team, the size of a crowd can negatively or positively a teams confidence. At Lake Zurich, students favor football over many other sports, going to football games is seen as a big event for freshmen and seniors alike. But how do student athletes on teams that have maybe 10-15 students in their fan section feel? Or how about girls teams that get overshadowed by the boys teams because their games are “faster and more exciting’? This imbalance is unfair and needs to change.
As a student body, we need to take action for what is right, because the way this school treats female sports is unfair and needs to change. In the past, girls basketball has had entire sections of people pick up and leave after a boys game, according to Margueret Spear, junior who has been on the girls varsity basketball team since sophomore year.
“At boys games, they get much more attention. More people go to their games because [their games are faster]. During our super sectional game, we went pretty far. [Boys basketball] had their first playoff game and they had such a big crowd, and we did not have a lot of students [during our game],” Spear said. “I mean, I feel like I’m used to it because that’s how it’s been my whole life, people always wanting to see the boys games. It is kind of disappointing.”
Girls being “used” to this treatment should not be tolerated, as a student body we need to step up and change our ways, change our culture to be more accepting and open to not only female sports, but to all underrated athletic teams, which is what Ian McGee, student section leader, plans to do.
“It’s just the generation we live in. Boys sports, I guess, are just more popular. As a leader I’m going to be going to the girls events, but a lot of other people are just not as interested in them. So we have to try and figure out ways to get people to go to more of the girls events, which is a main focus for us,” McGee said.
Girls sports deserve more recognition than they are given, LZ students need to see that this treatment is unfair and needs to change, not only for girls sports but all sports.
This is Marissa's first year on staff and second year in the journalism program. As a sophomore, Marissa likes to take long walks to the fridge and spends...