It’s not every day that a Northwestern student will paint himself purple from head to toe and cheer at the top of his lungs in a stadium full of people. The Big Ten reported that 27,163 people (including students and non-students) attended last Saturday’s football game against Purdue. But what about a fencing match, a soccer game, or a golf tournament? As the championships loom for some of Northwestern’s more neglected sports, while other teams are just getting started with their seasons, it’s time to look into why so few people know about the great things our other varsity sports have to offer.
Laurie Schiller, coach of the 27-member women’s fencing team, says that his team’s sport is one of the least well known on campus, however not for a lack of talent. Rather, the team swept all three divisions at the USFA Burton home meet on October 4th. But the team often practices and competes in Patten Gymnasium, where Schiller says there is not enough room for spectators so the few fans who do attend must stand alongside the teams.
While the women’s fencing team may be short on space, Athletic Department Marketing Assistant Beth Cunningham says that that is not the case for other sports. For example, the lacrosse facilities can hold about 2,000 spectators, she said.
Still, despite the larger capacities that other sports’ venues can hold, the stands, in general, simply aren’t filling up. In the Division I champion women’s lacrosse team’s final home game last year, 1,222 people came out to watch them beat Princeton. In contrast, the softball team, who was also the Division I champion, had only 627 fans come out to support them as they took on Minnesota last spring, and the #2 ranked men’s soccer team played for an audience of 648 against Ohio State earlier this month. This seems pretty disproportionate.
The Athletics Marketing Department is working to draw more students to lesser-known teams’ games. Cunningham says that each varsity team has a “Big Game” night where the first 50 students receive a Chipotle gift certificate and one student receives a full quarter’s worth of burritos. She also said that the men’s soccer team does a lot to publicize their games including “dorm storms” in which members of the team go around to the residence halls and pass out flyers and candy to students to entice them to come watch them play.
Both the athletes and the athletic administration are trying to get reluctant students to support their peers. “I think that the leadership in the athletic department is eager to get the word out,” said Professor Robert Gundlach, Northwestern’s faculty athletics representative to the NCAA and the Big Ten Conference. He wants to see more equality in the popularity of each of Northwestern’s 19 varsity sports. “I think it’s worth the energy and effort to make it known to everybody…that we have terrific teams here,” he said.
But regardless of how talented and accomplished our teams are, is it worth it to spend an entire afternoon watching them? Is it worth painting your body purple — or at the very least wearing a purple shirt — losing your voice, and cheering on your roommate, friend, classmate, or someone you don’t even know?
Give it a shot, and then decide for yourself. The athletic world can seem very far removed from the rest of the campus, but sometimes, when 32,527 people show up for a single football game and students form a “Purple Haze,” singing the fight song and jingling their keys, athletic events can bring us all together, even if it’s just for a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. But this unity shouldn’t be limited to a decent football season. Why not go crazy for our nationally ranked lacrosse, for softball, for fencing, or even for the wrestling team who placed 13th at the NCAA championships last year?
Win, lose, or draw, we are one community and when our athletes take to the field, the court, or the piste, they are representing all of us. And with so many teams on campus that have either been nationally ranked or have had members become NCAA champions, it is important for the rest of us to recognize their strengths and potential and go out and support those neglected, yet stellar, sports.