Optimist
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Features
    • Book Review
  • Multimedia
    • Photo Galleries
    • Videos
  • Podcasts
    • Optimist Overtime
    • Top of the Key
  • Police Log
  • Print Edition
  • Projects
  • About
    • Advertise
    • Policies
    • Staff Contacts
    • Jobs
You are here: Home / Opinion / Not-so-friendly competition
Wildcat fans cheer on the volleyball team. (Photo by Shelly Womack)

Not-so-friendly competition

April 25, 2022 by Special Contributor Leave a Comment

BY: LONDYN GRAY

“Number 18, you look like you don’t shower!”

I chuckled and shrugged it off.

“Londyn!” They had looked up the roster. “Do you even brush your teeth?”

I laughed again, rolled my eyes, and continued watching the game from the sideline. We were playing the University of Florida on its home court. 

The volleyball powerhouse earned the right to strut into warmups, and its fans’ smug remarks were seemingly warranted, but completely unnecessary. The University of Georgia was going to lose, and Florida was going to win again.

Why was their student section targeting an injured bench warmer like me? Easy prey.

Playing environments are crucial to the game. ACU volleyball’s head coach, Alisa Blair, was an assistant at Stephen F. Austin last year. Its court is rightfully regarded as “the pressure cooker.” It’s suffocatingly hot and forcibly loud.

It’s not a fun place to play – unless you’re SFA. Blair said the win over Rice in 2019 (right before Rice beat No. 3 Texas) was because of the noise created by the student section. Crowds can make the difference.

Opponents playing the Texas A&M football team on its turf are notorious for snapping the ball too early or having too many people on the field because of the sheer roar of the “12th Man.”

In indoor sports, this environment is more personal. The crowd and the bench are feet apart, with no railings to keep distance, and no face masks to hide behind. The indoor athlete is vulnerable, and the student section knows it.

When the men’s basketball team played at Grand Canyon University, the GCU student section was given profiles of targeted players. The profile said things like “#12 Mahki Morris: Can’t travel without his stuffed animal,” and “#23 Airion Simmons: Refers to himself as Big Jelly. Decent scorer, but can’t stay in for too long (nickname is Big Jelly after all).”

While the flyer might be extreme, this strategic attack is not uncommon to student athletes. Athletes face personalized heckling as early as high school.

But athletes might be the worst hecklers of all. 

For the home team, heckling is fun. Athletes know the thrill of playing for a cheering crowd that has made your competitor their own. Fans help puff up your chest and loosen the tension of competition.

ACU student athletes are encouraged to attend each other’s “purple games,” and it’s implied that our presence should be known. To both teams. Heckling is expected, and to some degree, it’s fully dismissible.

At its best, heckling makes the game more fun for the home team. At its worst, heckling is endorsed bullying. It can dehumanize the athlete, diminishing them to a pawn of entertainment.

In the summer of 2020, Georgia football, a primarily Black team, posted a Black Lives Matter video on Instagram. The post was raided by disapproval:

My friend on the team, a Black man, was in hurt disbelief. Outcries against racially motivated violence were told to shut up for the sake of playing a game.

This is the overgrown weed of heckling. It’s rooted in the perceived space between the athlete and the rest of their being. 

Maybe it’s the Christian values, or the underwhelming size of the student section, but something keeps ACU from planting this seed. 

Maybe we just don’t care enough. But if we do start caring, and if we become the loudest fans in the WAC, let’s stick to supportive cheering.

Remember that what you wouldn’t say to a classmate, you probably shouldn’t yell from the stands. And just don’t ever tell the injured benchwarmer she looks like she smells bad.

Filed Under: Opinion

Other Opinion:

  • Sing Song in the Expo Center presents an exciting opportunity

  • Micro-trends are a danger to Gen Z and the planet

  • R.I.P to my youth

About Special Contributor

Leave a Comment: Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

You are here: Home / Opinion / Not-so-friendly competition

Other Opinion:

  • Sing Song in the Expo Center presents an exciting opportunity

  • Micro-trends are a danger to Gen Z and the planet

  • R.I.P to my youth

Follow us online

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Optimist on Twitter

acuoptimistThe Optimist@acuoptimist·
4 May

"Maybe we just don’t care enough. But if we do start caring, and if we become the loudest fans in the WAC, let’s stick to supportive cheering." Read more from Guest Columnist Londyn Gray:
https://acuoptimist.com/2022/04/not-so-friendly-competition/

Reply on Twitter 1521918832738144257Retweet on Twitter 15219188327381442571Like on Twitter 15219188327381442578Twitter 1521918832738144257
acuoptimistThe Optimist@acuoptimist·
3 May

Royce Clough and Jael Morel have been named as Mr. and Miss ACU for the class of 2022, a traditional honor voted on by the student body and awarded to two members of each graduating class.

Reply on Twitter 1521607087553458178Retweet on Twitter 1521607087553458178Like on Twitter 152160708755345817819Twitter 1521607087553458178

Optimist on Facebook

The Optimist

2 weeks ago

The Optimist
"Maybe we just don’t care enough. But if we do start caring, and if we become the loudest fans in the WAC, let’s stick to supportive cheering." Read more from Guest Columnist Londyn Gray: ... See MoreSee Less

Not-so-friendly competition - Optimist

acuoptimist.com

BY: LONDYN GRAY “Number 18, you look like you don’t shower!” I chuckled and shrugged it off. “Londyn!” They had looked up the roster. “Do you even brush your teeth?” I laughed again, rol...
View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

The Optimist

2 weeks ago

The Optimist
Cullen Auditorium is expected to be handed over to the university in June 2022, alongside a name change that coupled with the renovation will create new future for the Cornerstone class, Chapel and the Department of Theatre. ... See MoreSee Less

Cullen Auditorium still set for a name change alongside renovations - Optimist

acuoptimist.com

Cullen Auditorium is expected to be handed over to the university in June 2022, alongside a name change that coupled with the renovation will create new future for the Cornerstone class, Chapel and th...
View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Videos

Women’s tournament run ended by first-round exit against UTRGV

The Wildcats’ Western Athletic Conference tournament run and season came to a ... [Read More…]

  • Optimist Newscast Feb. 22. 2022
  • Optimist Newscast 2.16.2022
  • Optimist Newscast 2.9.2022

Latest Photos

  • Home
  • Weekly Ads
  • Classifieds

© 2022 ACU Optimist · All Rights Reserved

Posting....