By Kayla Cohen ‘21, Sports Editor

I think we can all agree that the sports teams at NA are full of dedicated, hard-working players, making our athletics such a rival to much larger teams. Our teams work hard and play hard, but how much do we as fans “come out and support”? I think we can improve our school environment by taking the time to support NA on the fields and courts, thus fostering the school spirit we wish to be a part of. 

At a school full of such dedicated students and faculty, I myself often find it hard to take the time out of my week to watch sports events. However, at the same time, I, like many other students, want to experience the spirited feeling of cheering on my peers as they beat other teams. While some may say the problem is the lack of athletic scholarships at NA (which is illegal in private high schools in NJ), I believe the issue is from NA students not taking the time to attend sporting events. 

The most prominent example of this is football’s home opener against Morristown-Beard, in which Morristown-Beard had more than triple NA’s students show up to their away game, dressed for a whiteout. Having these strong displays of numbers allows for both the team to feel the support and for the student body to be united. Furthermore, while school council is helping by creating “color outs” which encourages more students to dress up and attend the games, it is ultimately in the hands of the students to attend sports games and create the school environment they want to be a part of. Will Charvala ‘21 says, “People don’t understand that if something isn’t fun but you want it to be, then you have to work to change it. As a student body, games should be something we look forward to, not just ignore. They could easily be fun if everybody came out.”

Attending school sports games gives you the chance to relax and socialize with people outside of the classroom. You could find a new common passion with a teacher or simply meet new friends who you would not have otherwise spoken to. It allows you to forget about your school work and relax, something not a lot of NA students get the chance to do. Having loud fans cheering for the athletes encourages the team to put in their best effort. 

Reading this, some might still argue that attending sports games will reduce the time for studying and hurt grades. However, taking breaks improves overall concentration and grades. So even attending a game for 20 minutes after school could help you improve your grades. In addition, many games occur on Fridays or weekends in which you might be taking a break anyway. Now is the time to foster the school environment you want by showing your support for the Minutemen.