Wanted: Bronco fan enthusiasm

It's obvious that our school is lacking in the fan support department, and lately I have begun to wonder why. I have also started to question why the so-called "fans" we do have complain about not having a football team when we have so many other great athletes to inspire support.

What makes football the only sport to foster school spirit? Even if we got a football team, how good would it be? Would it be strong enough to earn victories and keep up school spirit?

Being a Bronco rower, I know what it's like to be a forgotten athlete. We work hard and aren't the stereotypical pampered athletes. We have no scholarships, no locker room and no medical trainers. When fans do come they are mostly friends, family or past rowers.

Santa Clara is a demanding school and athletes should be appreciated a little more for keeping up with schoolwork. Santa Clara is rated in the top 10, according to The Princeton Review for student work load.

In addition to academic demands, athletes deal with two-a-day practices, while getting little sleep. Athletes must juggle the life of an ordinary student with the world of sport time-commitment and dedication.

Sure we choose this lifestyle, but at the same time, it seems other students and even faculty may not completely understand the demands we face. It isn't easy leaving practice everyday smiling when you're tired and know you have lots of schoolwork to handle.

Students should remember that athletes strive to represent the university in a good way. For all teams to do better, we need more student support to give us more encouragement and motivation! If athletes can give up their time to train and compete, students should be able to give up a little of their time to watch a competition.

It's hard to go to any event and see such low fan turnouts. Senior basketball player Quinn Thomas agrees that fans give a extra ounce of inspiration to play harder.

"Even though having the opportunity to play basketball is rewarding enough, having fan support adds another element to the game that makes it that much more exciting," Thomas said.

For me, being a student athlete offers so many rewards. Rowing enriches my college experience. I love being on a team, working so hard that my body hurts and winning races. But what would make it even better would be fans.

*Contact Alison Fleck at (408) 554-1918 or afleck@scu.edu.