By Ben Goodman ’16, Sports Editor

A Newark Academy student’s daily schedule is a laundry list of individual obligations, namely, clubs, instruments, charity work, sports, and foremost, rigorous academics. All that in mind, the Academy still prides itself on being a school composed of students who are actively supportive of each other’s endeavors, including and especially athletics. Thus, a difficult conundrum strikes leaders in the Athletic Department and the Red Army: how to encourage students to attend Minutemen home games even when they might already have numerous commitments on their agenda.

This fall, the Academy has made a concerted effort to draw the student body out to cheer on sports teams. For starters, the Red Army, the student-run fan organization led by Zach Persing ’15, Maddy DeLamielleure ’15, Sam Kent ’15, Soven Bery ’15, Nick Martino ’15, and Jacey Sullivan ’15, earnestly and energetically broadcasts spectator opportunities to the community at large, whether it be at morning meeting announcements or with posts on the Red Army Facebook page. Although a student might not be able to attend that field hockey game, s/he surely will know about it. Meanwhile, Athletic Director Ted Gilbreath has bolstered the athletic program’s popularity through bold steps to enhance the fan experience. “The best tool we have,” he said, “is a night game.” So-called under-the-lights games enable Mr. Gilbreath to construct a “bridge activity” beforehand, to pique students’ interest and to keep them on campus until games begin. For example, the Back to School Barbeque is placed perfectly between the end of the academic day and the first home football game of the season; the Red Army can enjoy burgers and Senior Initiation before migrating en masse over to Coursen Field.

As Gilbreath noted various fan-support successes, like Turn-it-Pink night and basketball triple-headers (where starting at around 4:00, the Girls Varsity team plays, followed by Boys JV and finally Boys Varsity,) a trend became evident: students showed up when there were no transportation issues- when they were already at school. Contrarily, one of the Academy’s biggest failures came on the Holiday Basketball Tournament, which seemed to Gilbreath to be “a virtual MKA home game.” The lack of support then should not be surprising because the student body was dispersed during Winter Break.

Though Gilbreath and the Red Army have stellar intentions and have experienced a good deal of success in their aims, they do recognize the reality: teenagers are busy, especially Newark Academy teenagers. “You can’t make people go to games,” reasoned Persing ’15, who provided his own personal challenges with trying to attend as many events as possible while staying on top of his academic workload.

Mallika Reddy ’16 expressed similar regrets about her busyness, saying “I would want to go to more Newark Academy sports events, but I have other commitments that I must prioritize, like horseback riding.”

Clearly, for its multitalented, healthily-occupied students to maintain their pursuits, Newark Academy cannot always have the highest-attended home games, but that is not to say that the efforts that have been made to encourage attendance are for naught. Even the busiest of students here cheer on their student athletes, when convenient and enticing, and the Academy has experienced a recent upswing in crowds. Both Gilbreath and Persing cited Turn-it-Pink night as one of the school’s most exciting athletic events yet; just look at the social media platforms filled with pink-donning spectators. Despite all its reputations as busy, stressed, and studious, Newark Academy still finds time to root, root, root for the home team.