Student's View: Where's the Respect for the Swim Team?

Sports games are some of the most exciting events Scotch Plains-Fanwood has to offer, and no match gets more hype than when the Raiders take on the Westfield Blue Devils. Through every season and every sport, the Raider-Blue Devil rivalry games are always intense, with the winner receiving bragging rights until the next meeting. I have been to many meets between the two towns, but the most intense match came recently in a very unexpected setting.

Last weekend I traveled to Rutgers in New Brunswick for the Union County Swimming Championships. Schools from all around the county came to support their teams, but once the racing began, it became very clear that it was going to be a duel between SP-F and Westfield. 

Although the competition was intense, that it is not what captivated me most about the experience. Every now and then, I would look up in the crowd and see the bleachers nearly filled with parents, fans and team members from every school. Some student fans from Union and Rahway even had body paint on in support of their school teams. What surprised me most was that the two "fan sections" that lacked any support were those for Scotch Plains-Fanwood and Westfield. 

How can two of the top teams in the state have zero support from their student bodies at the meet? Rutgers is only a 20 minute drive, the event was free and both teams were expected to be in strong contention for the title. Yet, students would rather go see a basketball team get blown out by a team way out of their league or a football team struggling to make it onto the field each week. 

At some points during the key races, the pool area was louder than I had ever heard at a high school sporting event. That's why it disappointed me that almost none of that noise was coming from the Scotch Plains fan section.

The students should want to see their peers do well. Both the boys and the girls swim teams are ranked in the Star Ledger's Top 20 in the state, and the boys have even cracked the top 5. But you hear no hype around the school about their next meet. Saturday was my first swim meet, and it actually proved to be the most exciting sporting event I've witnessed in my high school career. Seeing every race go down to the wire created a rush that not even the extremely competitive varsity soccer games cold provide. 

The consensus at school seems to be that if it's not basketball, football or soccer, then it's not worth going to. I beg to differ. All of our teams, from varsity to freshman, should receive the support they deserve. When a team is successful, students should be there to witness their greatness and cheer them on to further success. When a team struggles, the fans should be there to help them rebound and get back to their winning ways. There is no reason for any team not to have the support of the student body, and the more support students are willing to give, the more motivated you will see these teams become to bring championships back to Spiffy High. 

Editor's Note: Mike Demmel is a senior at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School. Look for his columns here each week.