Where are the fans at girls sporting events?

At our high school gym today filled with maybe 50 spectators (possibly less), there was no halftime entertainment, no fist-pumping music, no cheerleaders… just awkward silence and a few hushed conversations around me. It was strangely somber.  Was there a speech? A funeral?

Nope – it was a girls basketball game.

This afternoon I took my 13-year old daughter to watch the high school girls basketball team take on my alma mater on home turf. It was “senior day” and it was a bright, clear wintery Saturday so I expected a decent-sized crowd. I was surprised that the opposing team had more players than fans and our own side of the bench wasn’t much higher in the number of spectators present.  In fact, I think we could have comfortably put all of the fans present on the first 4 rows of the bleachers using only one half of the gym and keeping them all to the left of the scorekeepers box.  Yeah – it was that small of a crowd.

Sorely disappointing.  Those who didn’t attend missed out on some great hoops action.  I watched our school’s team nail at least 8 3-pointers.  I remember when the 3-point line was first drawn on our court in the mid-eighties. I was playing basketball for my school and as a guard I spent a lot of time practicing those long shots.  When we played high school ball, it was somewhat rare to see a 3-pointer by either girls or boys teams.  Now, these teens are popping them off like it’s a routine shot. And they make it look easy!

Now flip over to a boys game.  I attended one last year early in the evening on a weeknight. Nothing special about the game – it wasn’t a tournament or local rival – just a regular game and not even a “senior night”. That same gym was packed with parents, families and lots and lots of students. At half-time the dance team did a number, there were cheerleaders followed by non-stop, energetic music as the teams warmed up.  Completely different atmosphere.

Now you think the schools would be into promoting the girls events as much as the boys events.  The ticket prices are the exact same amount. It takes the same number of people to run the concessions, handle tickets, keep score and clean up. So the more people they get to attend the girls events, the more money they pull in to support girls athletics – oh wait.  Maybe that’s the problem.  Maybe they don’t want to support girls athletics. Maybe that’s an unfair statement, but it sure looks one-sided to me.

So where are all the girls sports fans?  Where are the parents?  The family members? The students? Let’s represent and attend a few girls sporting events. You have no idea what you’re missing!  Let that be your challenge for this month.  Support your local girls athletic teams!