Student support at Woodside High School athletic events this year has been extremely disappointing, with rivalry games being attended by fewer and fewer students.

Much of this lack of spirit is due to the recent struggles of some of Woodside’s most prominent athletic teams, especially the 0-10 season coming from the Wildcat football squad. At the first football game of the year, students were excited to support the team, but after each loss, the numbers of fans in the stands began to decrease. With not much excitement on the field, 2017-2018 Woodside students, now more than any other year in recent memory, are taking their attention away from sports.

Even lead faculty members tend to agree that the quality of a team’s performance plays a big role in determining whether they receive support at their games.

“Depending on how the teams do is a driving factor on attendance,” Athletic Director, Chuck Velschow says. “For example, the football teams didn’t win a ton a games this year; so I think that made it hard for kids to come out to the games.”

However, it shouldn’t be just the football or basketball games that signify whether sports have solid attendance and support. The fact that there are almost never any fans at sports like cross country, track and field, tennis, baseball, softball, wrestling, and badminton is simply depressing.

In many of these sports, the athletes work just as hard if not harder than the teams on campus who tend to get more of a student fan presence at their games.

However, students nowadays do have a plethora of things to worry about besides just attending a high school sports event.

“People are interested in sports, but when you factor in things like club sports, jobs, schoolwork, and other activities, it becomes hard to attend those Friday night games,” added Velschow.

While sporting events might not be at the peak of people’s interests, it is still a way to show one’s Wildcat pride by catching a game or two and cheering on classmates to victory!