Spread the Gator Sports Love More Evenly

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Z. Hovart

Alexander Fernandez, one of our hard working Cross Country runners.

Sure, you’ve heard about football and cheerleading, but what about the sports that remain unnoticed? The sports that aren’t recognized but are extremely successful?

Green Level’s own social media sites are even neglecting very successful sports and focusing on volleyball, football, and cheerleading. Many teams including golf, cross country, and tennis have been doing very well as a team but aren’t featured as often as the “bigger” sports. Counting up the totals on Instagram, Green Level Cheer has been featured a number of 15 times, Green Level Soccer 14 times, and Green Level Football 27 times, yet Green Level Cross Country is only featured three times. 

Now, the root of the problem could be the popularity of the sports, but even if this is the case it isn’t fair. An example that affected our Women’s Tennis Team was the first time we were featured on GL’s Instagram. They posted a story about our match being cancelled, but nobody even knew we had a match because the social media never talked about it. The team’s season has ended now and they haven’t had any fans show up aside from one or two friends for a little bit. 

Arabelle Kwiatek, a Sophomore on the tennis team, says, “I think that tennis should be mentioned more on Instagram and other social media accounts because we win almost every game, which is pretty good for a team with only freshmen and sophomores. I love our team and I think that we are so incredibly hard working. We have amazing motivation as well.”

The disappointing thing is that this isn’t even the worst example of our lack of media coverage of underappreciated sports. Cross country has been going since June and has only been featured a few times on The Gator’s Eye. 

Mr. Grondzowski, the Cross Country coach gave some feedback about the under-appreciation of his sport. He says “From a coaches standpoint, I watch the kids practice six days a week, practicing on weekdays from about 2:45-3:30, and on the weekends they are practicing from 7 to 9:30, and we have some kids on the team who are running 15 miles a week. It takes a big toll on the body and a lot of athletic preparation, in terms of warming up and doing exercises, and eating right and sleeping right. I feel like the amount of time the kids put into it it would be great to see them get more attention.” 

Even outside of school, hype is formed around popular sports such as basketball and football. Take the Olympics for example, we create more excitement around swimming and track and field, leaving sports like dressage and skeleton in the dust. This is usually because whatever one person follows, the other person leads, especially in sports.  

When the people are not showing support, neither are the news channels. Even in the olympics, if Usain Bolt gets a new record in the 100 meter dash, that is bigger news than someone setting a new record in gymnastics. 

To show support for all the sports, social media/news sites have to show support, and share a diverse student body of sports, spring or fall!

Note from Gator’s Eye faculty advisorsWe value the hard work and effort of all of our Gator athletes. Sending student writers and photographers to cover all events–especially those that take place off-site from our campus–can be a challenge, but we hear you and appreciate the nudge to do better.