[quote]By Kiera Donovan
Online Writer
Photo by Drew Danko[/quote]
Every high school prides itself off of its athletic teams. Mustangs can’t get enough of their sports. BG Stampede shows this pride by advertising every school sanctioned sports game, but what about the club sports? Most Mustangs don’t even know what a club sport is.
Well, there are enough Mustangs involved that we have six club sports: rugby, ultimate frisbee, men’s and women’s lacrosse, and men’s and women’s hockey. We are all aware of the reputation for the hockey team, but most Mustangs don’t cheer on these other unacknowledged club sports.
“Varsity and JV Ultimate Frisbee went to state last year,” senior Ryan Adams said. “Varsity got fifth and JV got third and no one knew about it.”
Club sports are so underrepresented at Metea that there are strange rules that apply only to said teams. Rules like not being able to carry your equipment around school. I personally have been stopped and told I can’t carry my lacrosse stick around school because it can be used as a weapon. However, a baseball player can carry two bats around with them all day and not be questioned. On top of not being allowed to carry our equipment, we are prevented from having a place to put our equipment during the school day, like an athletic locker. The average women’s lacrosse stick is 53 inches, for those of you who don’t see why that matters, it’s too tall to fit in our regular lockers. However, it doesn’t really matter that we can’t have them at school because it is virtually impossible to get a school field space to practice. It’s a blessing when the other teams are gracious enough to share their field time so club sports can have games.
To be fair, the new athletic director, Mr. DeBruycker, and the athletic department have been very accommodating and excited to watch club sports grow this year. DeBruycker has assisted us in the best ways possible by finding space for games and practice both at and away from Metea. However, the rest of the school shows little interest or respect for club sports.
Men’s hockey works hours on end week after week for one of the longest seasons of all sports. The women’s lacrosse team practices six days a week besides game days. Club sports put just as much, if not more, work to continue growing their programs and making the team as successful as possible. They work tirelessly to represent the sport, their team, and their school in the best way possible. Not to mention the money it takes to be on a club sport at Metea. For the women’s lacrosse team, it costs $530 to participate.
Every sport at Metea deserves respect and acknowledgement, both club and school sanctioned.
*Disclaimer: This article is categorized as Opinions. The views of this article are that of the writer and do not represent the Stampede staff as a whole and should not be interpreted as a staff editorial.
Nathan T • Apr 24, 2016 at 4:31 pm
Being a hockey player for Waubonsie I know how it feels to not be treated as a sport. A lot of clubs are very successful and don’t get the recognition they deserve.
anon • Apr 11, 2016 at 7:41 am
lacrosse isn’t a sport
Hockey player • Apr 8, 2016 at 7:56 am
Did you know that high school club hockey costs over $4,000 a year? And that doesn’t include equipment. The only reason Metea even announced anything about JV winning the State Championship is because one of the parents requested the front office to say something about it. If football or basketball even went into the finals – there would probably be a pep rally. I didn’t see ANY Metea fans – other than the Varsity team players – at the Championship game. I don’t think that would happen for other sports. Do you even know the names of the Metea hockey players?
Sam • Apr 6, 2016 at 12:49 pm
There is definitely not a women’s hockey team
Anon • Apr 6, 2016 at 11:01 am
“mustangs lack respect…” is honestly the worst possible title one could make because there is a big difference between not being a ware of and lacking respect. I have never seen or heard of any schedule for any club sports and if I do they are sometimes up to and hour away due to the fact that club sports aren’t involved in the dvc. But I still have respect for many of these athletes and I know many other students feel the same way.
W • Apr 6, 2016 at 10:59 am
Nobody has to respect anything. If somebody shares an interest with you, and wants to either participate in the sport that you participate in or observe the sport that is being played, that’s great. But to imply that respect is owed by the entire school to your sport seems extremely entitled. There are plenty of school sanctioned sports that have a lack of fans or respect, generally because the majority of the school is disinterested in the sport that they play. The same applies for club sports.
Caleb Escudero • Apr 6, 2016 at 9:20 am
You play a sport because you have passion for it and to have fun, not to have people recognize you for it. If your main issue with your sport is the low attendance numbers at sporting events, then you aren’t playing that sport for the right reasons.
Hockey Groupie • Apr 6, 2016 at 8:30 am
Hockey gets loads of fans out to their games #packthebarn
Al • Apr 5, 2016 at 1:41 pm
re lax
Club player • Apr 5, 2016 at 1:03 pm
It’s ironic that this article is made without even recognizing that JV hockey won state this year
Mike Staskon • Apr 5, 2016 at 10:04 pm
Honestly I think that the school should bring more awareness to the other sports that are generally not really talked about. Yeah hockey got some light when it was announced that the JV team had won state but even then, people don’t ever seem to talk about the bowling team or tennis or any of the other small sports. I think what Metea should do is bring more awareness to these club sports as well as these other small sports too, instead of having football or basket ball always getting the spotlight.
Gianluca Ansuini • Apr 5, 2016 at 9:56 am
I agree it is a shame that certain clubs are not considered such as the club i want to create the ant racing club
Nick Heger • Apr 5, 2016 at 9:27 am
Students avidly support the Metea/Waubonsie/other schools hybrid hockey team, despite it being a club sport. On the other hand, golf, bowling and badminton, which are all school-sanctioned, are essentially disregarded by fans. Fans don’t care whether a sport is club or not, they just want it to be competitive and played by some of the school’s best athletes.
Hockey Player • Apr 6, 2016 at 9:15 am
Students do not avidly support the hockey team. There are probably an average of eight fans from Metea at the varsity games. That is also a generous estimate.
Nick Heger • Apr 7, 2016 at 9:22 am
At the varsity level, hockey is one of the top 5 sports in terms of student support.
Musical Ned • Apr 5, 2016 at 8:27 am
i think this goes beyond just club sports but also music accomplishments