Varsity Basketball Games, School Spirit, Band, and Cheerleaders?

[5-oh]

Has anyone noticed that School Spirit is down at the high school that you follow ?  Specifically boy's basketball.  

I take in a lot of Varsity basketball games and I've noticed a trend at the majority of schools.  I hate to say it, but, back in my day, gyms were packed for my games.  Cheerleaders were at every game, home and away.  The pep band played at every home game and was very active.  Student's packed the gyms, both home and away.  It made for a great atmosphere and certainly helped the team get over the hump on many occasions.  

I hear it from parents in attendance, the casual fan in the stands, and nobody can understand what's going on?  

I always thought that students were in their high school band because they wanted to showcase their skills.  I see bands practicing in various parking lots all summer long, preparing for football season and marching competitions.  The band plays at home football games, but once basketball season starts, crickets.  We've had 4 home games this season where the band was in attendance.  One game was a regular out of District opponent, one was on Senior night, one was our biggest rival District seed game, and the other was the last home game of the season.  Almost every fan I talked to mentioned how great the atmosphere was having both the band and cheerleaders at the game.  

We've had some home games where if you take away siblings, there might have been 10 student's in attendance.  At some games hosted by 5 & 6A schools, it's the same thing.  Not many students in the student's section.  Some gyms have a lower and upper tier with the upper tier being completely closed off.  I've been to games at big schools where there is no band, no cheerleaders, and so few fans / students in the stands, that during free throws, it is eerily quiet.  You can hear the player's conversations in the lane. 

I'm just wondering if anyone else is noticing the same trend at your school?  It's a shame that school spirit seems to by dying, those were some of my most favorite memories from back in the day.    

 

[The Double Deuce]

I think you're spot on, and I think there are lots of reasons for it (I'm talking about a lack of students in attendance, not addressing the pep band issue because I know nothing of that).  One, kids are way busier with non-in-season sport stuff than they used to be.  Club soccer kids are doing winter training 2 or 3 nights a week, club volleyball girls are just as busy, if not more so, and then you have things like Mock Trial, track practice / conditioning, etc., that removes a lot of kids from being able to attend.  You also have a lot of kids working now, and they can't skip a shift just to attend the "big game".  

Those aren't the only reasons, for sure, but I do think those are factors in why you see fewer kids at games.

I'm with you, it stinks, and takes some of the energy and fun out of going to games.  

[se7ens]

Gosh, I also hate to sound like an old man yelling at clouds, but there are fewer bonds to schools and school districts now than ever. When I was in school, the VAST majority of the student body knew it was the school they were going to years in advance, followed the teams growing up, had relatives that had gone there, etc... Those things have most certainly declined over the years.

[LCDAWGS19]

As a father of 2 marching/pep band kids, and 1 now in college, I can say at their school, it's not the band that's lacking, but the student section (usually).  I have several people come to me and comment about how the band is the driving force behind the atmosphere.

[Mojocat]

All of this is true, but the observation is by now decades old.  We all could have said the same things in 2003, I think.  The culture has changed drastically (it tends to work that way!).  There used to be one college game on television per week.  Now there are games every night.  Schools didn't have soccer teams and lacrosse teams and field hockey and swimming/diving teams back in the day.  You have a lot more sports competing for participants and spectators.  And that's true, generally - there are just a lot more things folks can do now than watch high school basketball and football than used to be the case.  It's not going to go back in my opinion, any more than we'll go back to horse and carriage as a primary means of transport or outdoor plumbing.....

[Down4theblue]

My kid goes to a 5A school in central Ky. Their band has not been 1 one basketball game all year.  But they will damn sure they will show up for the Regional.
 

They leave after halftime of football. They do their little show at halftime( with mismatching colors ( they wear purple and red, and light blue, Not the school colors ,Btw) They have the dreaded “Pat Riley Decease of Me” if it ain’t about them they don’t give a 💩 . Its the leadership. I asked a kid who is in band, why don’t they stay. Kid said “ no one wants to” 

imagine if a football player said that….. I'm leaving…It’s just a different age.

 

I’ll get off my soap box, and that’s my .02

[Adrian Woj Burner]

I have noticed this at almost every game I have attended this year, other than the Oldham County rivalries. Those games are like no other, the atmosphere is unreal. 

However, every game outside if that seems like the basketball culture is fading away, attendance is decreasing and the band is rarely at any game. 

[theguru]

I think everyone is making good points.  I will try to break it down to two reasons.  First and foremost, everyone has so many opportunities and options to fill their time.  We are in the middle of a technological revolution with access to anything that interests us.  Second, and it really feeds back into the first, back in the day there were not many choices outside of the basics like news, westerns, Lawrence Welk (I still watch reruns), This Week in Baseball, and pro basketball games on at 1130pm on Friday nights. In other words, back in the day we were starved for quality entertainment and high school athletics definitely was something most of us knew about and were excited to attend.  Nowadays, everyday is just another Manic Monday. 

[Adrian Woj Burner]

1 hour ago, theguru said:

I think everyone is making good points.  I will try to break it down to two reasons.  First and foremost, everyone has so many opportunities and options to fill their time.  We are in the middle of a technological revolution with access to anything that interests us.  Second, and it really feeds back into the first, back in the day there were not many choices outside of the basics like news, westerns, Lawrence Welk (I still watch reruns), This Week in Baseball, and pro basketball games on at 1130pm on Friday nights. In other words, back in the day we were starved for quality entertainment and high school athletics definitely was something most of us knew about and were excited to attend.  Nowadays, everyday is just another Manic Monday. 

I strongly agree with this, and to bounce off of your technological revolution point you made, many teams in the state now offer streaming to every home game. Majority of people would much rather sit at home on their couch and watch it for free, rather than driving to the game, paying to get in, sitting on the hard bleachers, then driving home.

Personally, I would much rather watch the game in person, I believe it shows loads of things such as athleticism, how a team communicates, and a teams emotion rather than the basic YouTube stream.

But, to the average viewer that doesn’t t pay much regard to these things, and I would 100% see why they would rather sit at home and watch the game.

[DragonFire]

1 hour ago, Adrian Woj Burner said:

I strongly agree with this, and to bounce off of your technological revolution point you made, many teams in the state now offer streaming to every home game. Majority of people would much rather sit at home on their couch and watch it for free, rather than driving to the game, paying to get in, sitting on the hard bleachers, then driving home.

Personally, I would much rather watch the game in person, I believe it shows loads of things such as athleticism, how a team communicates, and a teams emotion rather than the basic YouTube stream.

But, to the average viewer that doesn’t t pay much regard to these things, and I would 100% see why they would rather sit at home and watch the game.

One thing that I've suggested to some in leadership before is that they make attendance of the games a loss leader.  Make your money on concessions and things like that, but make admission to the game free of charge - at the very least for your students.  I'd let anyone in for free that had a student I'd or was wearing a shirt for the home team.  You want supporters at the game, and that helps you build ties with the future generations.  It's too radical/scary an idea to those I've talked to about it.  But as you say, many are streaming the games and giving the product away for free to begin with.  So you're still not capturing their revenue, and you're not getting them there. 

[111]

Depends on the match up of schools.  This year I have experienced huge crowds, high energy student sections, pep bands and cheerleaders all in “full go”.  I have also experienced half empty gyms with a game going on and not much else. 

[ConverseAllStar]

Call me crazy, and I'm dating myself, but the trend began back in 1978 when the TV show Dallas (Who Shot JR?) began airing on Friday nights.  Prior to that, there was nothing else to do on a Friday night, and high school gyms across the country were packed with pep clubs, cheerleaders, bands, parents, relatives, and young kids (many brought to the games on fan busses). It was the thing to do on Friday nights and school spirit was at a peak.  When Dallas started airing things changed . . . everyone wanted to tune in . . . people  had other other options . . . and high school basketball attendance began its unfortunate decline.

Also, the amount of weekday games in Kentucky dilutes the fan base, as well as 30 regular season games.  Look at attendance across the river in Indiana:  more Friday & Saturday night games, 20 game regular season, each game means more and attendance is greater.  

[4 Quarters]

You guys should have been at WV tonight.

[Deaconjim]

Great atmosphere at Walton tonight. There wasn't`t an empty seat to be had.

[Adrian Woj Burner]

21 minutes ago, 4 Quarters said:

You guys should have been at WV tonight.

 

2 minutes ago, Deaconjim said:

Great atmosphere at Walton tonight. There wasn't`t an empty seat to be had.

I wasn’t there, and 32nd district games are extremely great atmospheres, however the gymnasium is extremely small.

I’d love to see what it would look like at a more average high school gym.