Armchair quarterbacks of the world: Listen up. I've heard the last joke about the struggling winter sports teams at FHS. I've listened to the last person whine about what's wrong with the program, the coach, the players, etc É I don't want to hear about the poor win-loss records of the Bravettes volleyball team or the Braves basketball team any more.
When school gets out at 3:12, other people get to go home and do whatever they want. Athletes stay at school for another two and a half hours to polish their skills. They memorize offensive plays and defenses. They run if they make mistakes, sprint if they aren't putting out maximum effort and at the end of practice, they run sets of stairs for conditioning and do jump training to increase their vertical leaps. Every player on both the basketball or volleyball teams could show you countless bruises and scrapes from when he or she dived for the floor to scramble after a ball.
The volleyball team travels every Thursday and Saturday for the entire month of February. For them, this means missing school, making up missed homework and tests and arriving home on a school night at 12:30 in the morning. They're expected to be at school on time the next morning, ready to catch up with other students and perform again the next night in a game or practice. They travel even further on Saturdays, leaving at 10 in the morning and not arriving home until 2:30 early Sunday morning.
It sounds torturous, but athletes don't want pity. Each has dreamed of being a player since the time they could pick up a ball. They've worked on their skills for a lifetime, and are constantly striving to improve. They knew when they started the season that it would be a huge commitment.
Players work every night because they love to compete. Most of them recognize that they won't get a full ride scholarship to the college of their choice, and most of them won't even play after high school. But its enough of a reward to go out with the team and give it their best shot. Every game they play their hardest. On some nights, the whole team plays well, and they win. On some nights, they don't play so well, and they lose. But each of those athletes works until his or her body is one mass of lactic acid - and if that's not enough, they get to go give all of themselves again in a few nights.
Athletes on the struggling teams say each time they hear another joke or negative remark about the teams it just demoralizes them even more. They need fans' support, not their sarcasm. Athletes don't need to be told by every armchair quarterback what they should-a, could-a, would-a done. What our athletic programs need right now are more faithful fans who love the players whether they win or lose, no matter how they play the game.