When you think of high school sports, you may picture football or basketball, usually not volleyball. The popularity of mainstream sports creates a huge support system for those teams but sports like volleyball tend to fall on the back burner. This year, the Richwoods student body has shown greater appreciation towards the Lady Knights Volleyball Team by having a very passionate student section. Many fans show up to watch a good game but it’s not only enjoyable for the fans. The players also benefit from an energetic student section. Having a student section can positively affect volleyball players because of the intensity and motivation it brings to players when they know that there are people out there rooting for their success. When asked about the atmosphere in an empty gym as opposed to a full gym, one team member felt that when there is a lively student section, they’re more pressured to win.

But, like any sport, the student sections don’t fill up as much at away games as they do at home games, in a close game having a student section is a huge benefit. One player said, “When we’re at away games and we have no crowd, but the opposing team does, it feels like the vibes aren’t there”. This can be extremely tough for players to play through. There have been many great turnouts at away games. The Dunlap game had a packed Richwoods student section, and it was a very close game but Richwoods won in two sets and the atmosphere was a huge contributor. There have been many close games that the lady knights lost when they were at another school that had a student section, and they did not. If there was a student section, there could have been a very different ending to those games.

The difference between having and not having support is huge for the players in terms of their performance and every team and player benefits from having a group of people rooting for them. Keep this in mind when deciding whether to go cheer on one of your Richwoods sports teams.