As Sun Devil sports fans, we should pay more attention toward the lesser known sports we have on campus. Most of our student body's attention goes towards football and basketball, which is great, but we have some of the top teams in the country playing sports you may not have heard of. For instance, ASU currently has the No. 6 women's water polo team in the country. However, it is mostly parents and a handful of student fans that cheer at the games. We have a unique opportunity to follow our University's athletic programs, so more students should take advantage of this entertainment.
ASU football regularly plays in front of thousands of fans cheering on the team. This is fantastic, and I hope it continues, but those thousands of fans do not show up for most of the other sports. This phenomenon may be due to so many students growing up around major sports like football and basketball. Being familiar with these sports gives them the inclination to attend those games instead of other sports like volleyball or wrestling that they may not be as familiar with. Football is a very physical sport, and therefore derives a lot of fan support from the hard hits and big tackles. However, wrestling is just as physical of a sport if not more so, and it does not draw anywhere close to the amount of fans the football team does.
Basketball is also a well-attended sport on campus for possibly similar reasons. Many students have grown up watching Kobe Bryant hit game winners or LeBron James dunk on whoever he wants. However, most students have not been to or seen many water polo games in their lives. Basketball is hailed as one of the more technical sports due to the precise hand-eye coordination, shooting mechanics and defensive as well as offensive strategies required. Be that as it may, water polo is just as technical because it involves similar techniques such as sharp passing, fast breaks, precise shots and is even more physical of a sport, all while swimming in water. Nevertheless, our nationally ranked water polo team struggles with reaching one hundred fans in attendance whereas basketball reaches that number half an hour before the game.
I think part of the reason only a few sports have thousands of fans in attendance is partly due to the marketing of those events. I see posters, giveaways and advertisements targeting students to attend the football and basketball games, yet our student body is not made aware of the upcoming events for sports like swim and dive or lacrosse.
The attendance from thousands of fans at the football and basketball games is great and should continue, but the other Sun Devil sports teams and athletes deserve a percentage of those fans at their events as well. If other sports are marketed as strongly as the two big ones are, and students take time to at least try other sports, our sports program and Sun Devil community would grow together.
Related Links:
Less prominent sports deserve more attention
Lack of funding hampers club sports
Reach the columnist at Graham.Paul@asu.edu or follow @GrahamASUpress on Twitter.
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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