School spirit at sporting events is an important piece of any school’s culture, and for Carrollton it isn’t any different.
“School spirit is important for Carrollton. It’s part of Goal 4. It’s part of building community. It’s part of the girls being proud of their school,” said Upper School Head Mrs. Consuegra.
According to Varsity Brands supporting teams at sporting events is also important because it helps boost players’ confidence and bring people together. When you have friends and family cheering, “you want to do better as an athlete,” said Upper School Math Teacher Ms. Padreda.
However, Carrollton has a lot of work to do when it comes to supporting athletes. “If it was based on the attendance of students that go to sporting events, I would say I don’t think there’s a lot of school spirit,” said Mrs. Consuegra. While we do see great turnout at some events, such as championship games, there’s still a lot we can do to make it better and more equal across sports.
“School spirit needs to be consistent and constant no matter what type of game. That’s part of showing up,” said Mrs. Consuegra.
The good news is that Carrollton does see a lot of parent support. “Usually most of the parents go to the games and meets,” said Ana Cristina Lopez ‘30.
“My parents show support by buying the school shirts that show that they are a Carrollton parent,” said Gabriella Bodoh ‘30.
And some faculty members like Ms. Padreda and Mrs. Consuegra also regularly attend sporting events. “I try to go to each of the games,” said Mrs. Padreda, noting that she has yet to attend a golf or tennis match.
Mrs. Consuegra said that she also goes to games very frequently, “on average, at least once a week during the season of each sport.”
However, it’s often challenging for faculty members to attend as often as they would like. “I think the teachers support, but sometimes their schedule doesn’t permit them,” said Ms. Padreda. “They have other responsibilities, so they can’t make it to all the games.”
Where Carrollton really needs to improve is student attendance. Sometimes students don’t find out about games until the day of the event after they have already made arrangements with parents to be picked up. Also, it’s difficult for some students to attend games that are not played at Carrollton. This is especially a challenge for seventh and eighth graders who depend on parents for rides. Even if a student has a ride, she might have a lot of homework or other activities of her own to attend after school.
To improve student support for sporting events, our community could do many things. We could have our mascot, Sophie the Cyclone, attend as many games, meets, and matches as possible to give the players more confidence and courage to play their best. Carrollton could also host more sporting events at home to make attending more convenient. However, to do this we would need to invest in more sports facilities.
Most importantly, attending the events needs to be more appealing for students. “We have to find ways to attract other students to events, whether that’s inviting other kids from other schools, having food trucks at events, or doing other things to make it attractive for students to come to the games,” said Mrs. Consuegra.
Carrollton could also give students incentives to attend. We could have a punch card so that every time a student attends a game she would get a punch and, once her card is filled up, she could win a prize.
Finally, we need to make regular announcements at assemblies, which could include hype videos. “Maybe we could announce them during Mission Mondays,” suggested Ms. Padreda. With an increase in awareness, students are optimistic that school spirit will eventually grow. “Once sports get more recognition, I think support will improve,” said Victoria Ruiz ‘30.
