- November 14, 2024
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We’ve all heard the phrase “treat others how you want to be treated.” In sports, we hear about good sportsmanship, and most of the time, we see it displayed after competition between teams and athletes, and even rivals. However, I’ve noticed
that more times than none, that same support and credit isn’t given to the respective sports at our schools.
For example, I’ve had plenty of people tell me that running isn’t a sport, or that all I do is run around in a circle. My argument? To start, running is a sport, and furthermore, other sports at my school don’t even make it out of their district when the cross country and track teams typically qualify to states each year.
Be respectful of other sports at your school, and support them. Don’t post about them and make fun of them, and if you do, don’t post it online, especially if you’re an athlete yourself. Not only does that make you look bad, but it gives your sport a bad name.
I haven’t been the most supportive of other sports, but I’ve begun to retweet tweets about the sports, whether they won or lost, or experienced injuries or recoveries, and even information about fundraisers. And when they win, I like to show them that someone is paying attention, that someone supports them. At the end of the day, a team just wants someone to rally behind them, and the way I see it, it should be the students who are the main driving force of a team’s support system. Why wait for the school’s staff members and those in the community to show support, when you can have the student-athletes who are out practicing each day and know how it feels to be in an athlete’s shoes?
Be the change you’d like to see, and it starts with the small things in life. In this case, for most of us, it’s sports.
I don’t care if your team is the best or worst in the state; don’t talk down to other sports at your school. All sports work hard, putting in time and money, and have a serious dedication to what they do. Some team’s journeys are longer than others, and they have to go through a lot of flak before they reach their goals. It’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish.
Ka’Deem Wynn is on the Flagler Palm Coast High School track team. Sports Editor Jeff Dawsey is on vacation.
