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

[theguru]

I remember way back when the Beechwood Pep Band included an electric guitar sometimes, those were the days. 

[The Raven]

55 minutes ago, theguru said:

I remember way back when the Beechwood Pep Band included an electric guitar sometimes, those were the days. 

I wonder how much insurance plays into this?   I remember seeing many pep bands that included electric basses and guitars, keyboards and full drum kits.  This didn't always fit in the stands where the horns were so they set up along the base lines and in the corners.   Not many HS gyms are big enough to half all that extra stuff along the floor.   All it takes in one injury for the schools insurance to increase.  Then there are the potential law suits in this day and age.

[theguru]

14 minutes ago, The Raven said:

I wonder how much insurance plays into this?   I remember seeing many pep bands that included electric basses and guitars, keyboards and full drum kits.  This didn't always fit in the stands where the horns were so they set up along the base lines and in the corners.   Not many HS gyms are big enough to half all that extra stuff along the floor.   All it takes in one injury for the schools insurance to increase.  Then there are the potential law suits in this day and age.

Risk management is always paramount. 

[12thfootballfan]

Student participation is down in your big sports like basketball and football but up in other sports like volleyball, field hockey, soccer,  baseball, etc.

I spoke to a group of kids and their response was interesting. Many say basketball and football players are “to good” to support them in their sports so they refuse to go their sport.  Hate to tell you but kids no longer put basketball players or football players on a pedestal like in the past. 

There are several schools that do not charge students and the attendance numbers are still low.
 
The fans, bands, cheerleaders, will show up at District and Regional tournaments, so not hope is lost. 

 

[4 Quarters]

Just a follow up to this thread.  You guys are complaining about the lack of support at HS games, Monday night I attended the Mason County/Bracken County game, there were 4,500 plus people in attendance, Wednesday night at SK for the Grant County/WV game, packed house.  Both of these crowds were very vocal.  Very much reminded me of the old days of HS basketball.  Even all the comments of the Grant/WV game, just can't hardly have it both ways.

[theguru]

2 minutes ago, 4 Quarters said:

Just a follow up to this thread.  You guys are complaining about the lack of support at HS games, Monday night I attended the Mason County/Bracken County game, there were 4,500 plus people in attendance, Wednesday night at SK for the Grant County/WV game, packed house.  Both of these crowds were very vocal.  Very much reminded me of the old days of HS basketball.  Even all the comments of the Grant/WV game, just can't hardly have it both ways.

Refreshing for sure, thanks for sharing @4 Quarters.

[Adrian Woj Burner]

Without a doubt, I hope regional week will bring the same crowd!

[mbohman]

8 minutes ago, Adrian Woj Burner said:

Without a doubt, I hope regional week will bring the same crowd!

I know one issue that started in the past decade as far as the cheerleaders were concerned is title 9 interpretation (and that could be with the band as well). It's how you decipher the guidelines. We had a snow day cancel a girls game and the cheerleading coach (this is 4-5 years ago when my daughter cheered) sent a message saying that Friday night boys game we would no longer cheer at. They said we had to have equal amounts to the game of girls vs boys games and with that coach she deleted games vs adding another to replace 🤦‍♀️. I agree I want them cheering at girls games as well but this was plum crazy. They also said back then we would have to cheer volleyball because there wasn't a female sport to make up for football. That one finally got changed. It's like cheering at games is a burden nowadays. Current coach has increased the games but there are still games they aren't there which is sad.

We've luckily usually had great parent, fans and student participation and we travel really well. We started doing game themes for student section and home student get in free and that's greatly improved attendance and atmosphere across the board in all our sports.  Regionals should be an amazing atmosphere. 

 

[theguru]

Welcome to BGP @mbohman!

[Royals and Saints Fan]

Although Mason County didn't have very many home games this year, our fans seem to be full force so far in the tournament.  The 39th District had strong fan support for both boys and girls.  Bracken and Augusta are always strong no matter the circumstances.  Saint Patrick (enrollment 66) even had a good sized student section, 9 cheerleaders + an active Leprechaun and loud crowd for their girls game last night.  Augusta had 15 on their boys team, 20 cheerleaders and at least 25 in their pep band--very good for a high school of 85 or so.  And I'm probably biased, but I would be surprised if there is a better pep band than Mason County's--if so let hear them.

[I gotta go to work]

I thought the 37th district championship games this week were some of the loudest gyms I've been in.  

[LCDAWGS19]

On 2/9/2023 at 5:58 PM, theguru said:

I remember way back when the Beechwood Pep Band included an electric guitar sometimes, those were the days. 

Mason County has:

electric guitar

bass guitar (Twin Lil dawg #2)

drum set (Twin Lil Dawg #1)

keytar

[LCDAWGS19]

1 hour ago, Royals and Saints Fan said:

Although Mason County didn't have very many home games this year, our fans seem to be full force so far in the tournament.  The 39th District had strong fan support for both boys and girls.  Bracken and Augusta are always strong no matter the circumstances.  Saint Patrick (enrollment 66) even had a good sized student section, 9 cheerleaders + an active Leprechaun and loud crowd for their girls game last night.  Augusta had 15 on their boys team, 20 cheerleaders and at least 25 in their pep band--very good for a high school of 85 or so.  And I'm probably biased, but I would be surprised if there is a better pep band than Mason County's--if so let hear them.

I know I'm biased...and there's not one. 

[5-oh]

I like what mbohman said above.  My original post was discussing the lack of cheerleaders and pep band at boy's home games specifically and general lack of student involvement at games.  With the exception of very few schools in the 9th Region, (CCH) most of the schools have really declined in cheerleader, pep band, and student section involvement.  We had several games where there were no cheerleaders on either side, no pep band, and very few students.  I agree with the Title 9 stuff and agree that it's stupid.  I was making the point that if I were in band or a cheerleader, I would want to participate at all home games, even girl's games.  That's their time to shine.  And, the District Tournament games I've seen so far have been well attended.  I can say that I've already seen how fan and student section attendance and involvement has assisted in pulling out wins in close games.  It's the experience the players deserve.  

[coachb110]

I taught for 37 years at DeSales High School in Louisville.  It's an all-boys Catholic school with an enrollment of about 325-335.  Sometime in the '80s our Chemistry teacher who played in a local rock band named RUOK started a pep band with the students & he called it "The World's Most Dangerous Pep Band".  They played classic rock at all the basketball games.  They packed their drum kit & several guitars into one corner of the gym near the visitor's bench (I don't think the Fire Marshall would approve these days). I believe it has been inactive since Covid, but they really rocked. An offshoot of that for the non-musically inclined students was a Pep Club who organized pep rally's and encouraged the students to come to games and sit in a student only section that they dubbed "The Danger Zone".  The Danger Zone still exists, but without music.   You can see a couple of examples on YouTube.  If I am allowed to post the URL you can see some examples. From 2014 

And from early last year: