There are certain things you expect to see when you show up to a home high school football game on a Friday night.
The band will be there. The cheerleaders will be there. Parents will fill the stands. And, of course, there will be a student section doing everything it can to make sure everyone in the stadium knows it is there.
These are Friday night football staples.
But something I’ve noticed around Woodford County this fall is that the students aren’t waiting until Friday night to show their school spirit.
They’re showing up everywhere.
I’ve seen good student sections at volleyball matches. I’ve seen them at soccer games. And, of course, when Friday night rolls around, they’re there for football.
More importantly, they aren’t just showing up.
They’re making noise.
They’re dressing up. They’re cheering. They’re trying to make things uncomfortable for the visiting team and, most importantly, they’re letting the Yellow Jackets on the field or court know their peers are in their corner.
Woodford County has always traveled pretty well, especially when it comes to football. I’ve attended plenty of road games over the years where you look across the field and see a whole lot of black and gold on the visitors’ side.
This year’s students, though, seem determined to take things another step.
A lot of the credit for that goes to the pep club, which has been heavily involved in organizing theme nights and giving students another reason to get involved. They get things organized via social media and spread the word to other students.
“In Pep Club, we make sure everyone knows where to be and what to wear by communicating through group chats, GroupMe, in morning announcements, and social media,” said WCHS senior Lexi Zuber. “We try to share the information ahead of time, so students have enough time to plan and make sure everyone is involved and showing school spirit. We have also tried to do this across different social media accounts, partnering with the Barstool account and just trying to spread the word for all events as much as we can.”
And high school students will apparently accept just about any excuse to wear something ridiculous in public.
Tell them to wear pajamas to a game? They’re in.
Tell them everybody needs to dress in one color? No problem.
Whatever gets them through the gate.
Because once they’re there, they’re doing exactly what a student section is supposed to do.
They’re having fun.
Sometimes we forget that’s a pretty important part of high school sports.
We spend a lot of time talking about records, district standings, statistics and postseason possibilities. I’m certainly guilty of it. It’s my job.
But years from now, most students won’t remember what the volleyball team’s record was on Sept. 7 or who Woodford played in soccer on a random Tuesday night.
They might remember packing into the student section with their friends.
They’ll remember whatever ridiculous outfit they wore for a theme night. They’ll remember screaming until they couldn’t talk the next morning. They’ll remember the bus ride or piling into somebody’s car to go to a road football game.
And the athletes will remember it, too.
There’s a difference between playing in front of a crowd and playing in front of a crowd that is actually into the game.
A loud student section can change the atmosphere in a gym pretty quickly. A soccer crowd suddenly getting loud after a big goal makes Community Stadium feel a little different. And we already know what a packed student section can do for the atmosphere on a Friday night.
The best part is that it doesn’t matter which sport is being played.
That’s what has caught my attention.
Football has always been the easy one. Friday night is an event. Getting a bunch of students excited about showing up for another sport on a weeknight takes a little more effort.
This group seems willing to make that effort.
And they’re traveling, too.
Woodford fans have a reputation for following their teams, but this year’s students seem particularly willing to take the show on the road. That’s a pretty good commitment when you consider they have school the next morning and, presumably, homework they’re going to complete upon getting home.
I’m sure that’s exactly what’s happening.
There will be plenty of time this fall to worry about wins and losses.
For now, I hope the students keep doing what they’re doing.
Keep showing up and making noise. It surely makes a difference for the competing team, and all the shenanigans entertain me a lot.
Keep supporting your classmates, whether they’re playing under the lights on Friday night, on the soccer field, or inside the gym.
And if that means I have to spend the rest of the fall trying to figure out why 100 teenagers are dressed like construction workers, cowboys, or someone’s grandfather, that’s fine with me.