“Little” Sports Still Want Recognition and How MCHS is Helping

Football, baseball, softball, and soccer are likely the four main sports a person may think of when high school athletics teams come to mind around the country. While these sports take up most of the limelight, how do lesser known sports feel about the publicity of their sport? Also, does it affect their performance in the long run?

We have narrowed these lesser known sports down to “The Little Five:”  We feel “The Big Five” may be a more appropriate term for these athletic teams because they also work hard,  if not harder, than the stereotypical main high school sports. The Little Five consists of golf, cross country, track and field, bowling, and swimming.

Bowling

Some may define bowling as a game which can be played competitively instead of considering it a sport. Even the IHSAA does not recognize bowling as a sport.

Junior bowler Wesley Stewart said, “I don’t think bowling is publicized as much as other sports just because of the fact that people don’t know we have a team. Some of the things that we can do to make it more publicized is make it more known that we do have a winning bowling team. (Some things we can do are) by putting up posters, putting more ads in, having it over the announcements that we’re having tryouts, and other things like that.”

The bowling team of Madison has began a bowling club in hopes of introducing the sport to newcomers if they are so intrigued by this competitive game.

“So what we’re doing, is we’re taking kids up to Vevay to go bowl. Basically, it is just a simple way to have fun and get introduced to the sport. We’re hoping to eventually get many sign-ups out of this club as well.”

Stewart and his team eventually hope to become an official sport of the IHSAA and earn their varsity letters for their hard work.

Golf

Historically, boys and girls golf have been some of the more successful athletic programs at MCHS. However, they are one of the least attended sports. Freshman Keara Eder had thoughts on how to boost attendance.

Eader believed that MCHS can easily improve the publicity of the golf team by announcing when the matches are or when someone wins a match. She is under the impression that even a simple announcement could bring people to their matches or congratulate them in the hallways.

Cross Country

Cross country is one of the more underrated sports, as the team believes they are extremely unappreciated. Chloe Ferris and Brett Cahall, both sophomores, were interviewed on their sport.

“I think cross country is not publicized as much as it should be because no one really appreciates us and believes that it is the hardest sport. No one seems to join because it’s publicized like that,” Sophomore Brett Cahall said.

Sophomore Chloe Ferris said, “I think it can be advertised better than it is now by explaining that our sport is not as boring as it seems, and we could say our meet schedule over the intercom and put schedules up around the school to advertise our sport better.”

Track and Field

“I feel like track and field is not publicized as much as other sports. People don’t understand all the effort and hard work that goes in to the few minutes/seconds that you see them running. A lot of people think of running as a punishment, but it can also be fun. Running is a great way to condition yourself and you can have fun with it,” Senior Lexie Nay said.

Senior Sydney Hammock feels the sport could be spread around our school.

“When it comes to rack and field, I believe that we have little to no form of publicity. The girls track team always places very well and everyone tries their hardest. I think that if our school would tweet or post pictures of us, we would get noticed. More and more people would support us.”

Swimming

The Madison community may know that swimming is a sport and during the winter, but no one ever knows when swimmers win a big meet, or are recognized individually. Swimmers Anne Grady and Katie Royce feel that swimmers as well as other sports get the short end of the stick when it comes to recognition.

“Swimming to me means that people don’t really appreciate the hard work as much as other sports. It’s not a primary sport because it’s not as popular as many of the others. Basketball, baseball, and football are sports that you would consider (more) representative of your school. Many other sports like golf, cross country, and track and field are included as well,” Royce said.

Grady said, “So I feel like other sports are more represented than others. They’re posted about more on social media on the Madison websites. People just attend those games more, and I don’t think swimming is advertised. I think they need to advertise it more so people will come.”

If we change the publicity about The Little Five as well as all of the lesser known sports, we hypothesize that MCHS athletes would improve their performances overall.

Assistant Athletic Director Patrick Maschino stated that although smaller sports can be recognized better, but the media culture provided by sports network ESPN is a roadblock. ESPN and other big sports networks promotes mainly football, baseball, etc. a lot more than swimming, track and field, and bowling.

“We have seen this as an issue and have tried to address it on our part and show that athletes should be respected,” Maschino said.

MCHS has begun an Instagram page that has promoted every sport and has not missed an event yet in the school year. The page currently consists of a following of 577 people and receives many views on their pictures and Instagram story. This page promotes the sports equally and lets people know upcoming games/matches/meets of every sport in specific. The athletic directors make sure of posting the results and scores of the sports as well.

“It’s letting people know that we’re not just a basketball school, or a football school. There’s other sports that happen that need to be supported.”

Madison has hosted invitationals this year in various sports including tennis, cross country, and swimming. Likewise, the athletic board is currently working on adding home meets to the track and field schedule. The invitationals will bring bigger schools to Madison, and more of them, instead of the normal dual meets.

Maschino said, “The more that we can get those bigger schools to our facilities, the more publicity those sports will get. (MCHS Athletic Director Joe) Bronkella and I are really excited to get that participation back up in terms of athletes going to those sports and participating in those sports, and also the student body coming out and supporting those athletes. Every athlete deserves to be supported no matter if they’re a basketball star, or a tennis player, or a cross country runner, or a swimmer.”

Also, Maschino expressed that he would love to work with anyone willing to publicize these smaller sports in any way.