When you talk about sports, you probably talk about football, baseball, or basketball. All of these sports are popular here in Orange, Texas, and just about anywhere else you go. The people who play these sports get major recognition for success. Football is arguably the most popular sport here at LCM, filling the stands almost every game. It’s not hard to tell which sport is the favorite among the students and fans, but where is the support for other sports such as soccer?

I play for the LC-M boys varsity soccer team and I can speak from experience when I say we have little to no fan support behind us. I’ve been playing soccer since I was four, so roughly 14 years of my life was spent mastering the skills it takes to play soccer. I have put in just as much, if not more, work mastering soccer as the football players have mastering football. Why do they get all the fans and school support when we are training just as hard for our season?

I feel that soccer is a highly underrated sport and should be given the recognition that almost all other sports get in this area. For example, football played fourth in district in the 2014 season – a very high achievement. They sadly got knocked out first round, but through all of this they had the school’s support and a cheering crowd at their backs. However, in that same year, the varsity boys soccer team won first in our district and went to the third round of playoffs. While this was happening, we had a slight increase in fans and support, but still fell very short of football and baseball turnouts.

Another point I would like to make is that football gets a huge band at all of their games, even traveling. The band gets a lot of support and has won many awards, they even draw their own fans! Many people love seeing our band perform. Is it too much to ask the band to make one appearance at a soccer game? Or maybe even just the drumline? What about cheerleaders? They perform at basketball and football games, so they could come out and support some of the other sports such as soccer.

I think that with more fan support behind soccer, our program could be a much better competitor and we would get a large confidence boost. As of this year, we have not lost a district game at home in two years. I would like to see soccer get the same amount of support as many of the other sports here at our school. It is, as a majority of countries call it, “the beautiful game.”