Caleb Burggraaf
Tip of the Burg

Here at Mesa State, we students are privileged to witness a great athletic tradition. Mesa State offers more varsity sports than any other in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with 19 different teams as well as multiple club sports on campus. And while many times the “quality or quantity” mantra comes into play in situations like this at Mesa, the teams are almost continually producing quality seasons year after year.
With that said, it is our duty as students to support these athletes as they represent our school on the field. I realize that not every student on campus is into sports and may not get a thrill out of attending a game that has nothing to do with their daily routine on campus, or that on a Friday or Saturday afternoon, many students who do follow sports would rather watch their Division I college team play instead of a division two school that really doesn’t get any attention excepts in the local media.
These reasons, while having their own merits, still don’t explain why there aren’t more students at the athletic events. Aside from men’s soccer, who played Monday night, there haven’t been any home games this year, so there is no way to compare this year’s student body to those of past years. But if this student body is like last year’s, then there are some pros and cons to what will happen this year.
Last year, the Mesa State students did support a few of the sports very well, and even put out good crowds at some of the lesser known sports, but there was no consistency to it. Some sports, like volleyball and women’s basketball never showed a consistently large crowd at their games.
Why should the amount of support for these teams suffer just because of the bad record or not being a “major” sport on campus? The facilities that the teams play in are close to campus and in most cases almost brand new or newly renovated.
The volleyball team, which averaged just over 600 fans in attendance per game, almost made the NCAA playoffs. The same goes for soccer and tennis. While it is true that in a few of these cases, the team led the RMAC in attendance, but why just lead the RMAC? With over 1,500 students on campus and over 8,000 attending Mesa this year, we can blow the other schools in this conference out of the water when it comes to supporting our athletics.
So next weekend, when the athletic teams start to play home games on a more consistent basis, remember that there is more than just one sport to go watch on a Friday or Saturday night. Grab your MavCard and take a stroll over to Brownson Arena, Walker Field, or Stocker Stadium and take in a free game. Whether it’s a mid-day tennis match, an afternoon soccer game, an evening football game, or a late night volleyball match, get out on campus and support the student athletes that are the ambassadors of this college.