Masuk Free Press

It’s no secret among Masuk students what the popular sporting events to attend are. Football games are the source of many Instagram posts. Our Red Army hypes up the boys hockey team like no other. Yet all this potential for an audience is entirely lost on other sports. Masuk’s athletic department is trying to change that.

“It’s a goal that I have for all the teams to try to get more student participation at all the events; students supporting other students,” said Athletic Director Brian Hourigan. “I’m new on the job, so it’s just learning the job. I just felt like I wanted to get it started now. Every student is going to get a ticket with a number, so we’ll do some raffle. I got some Jersey Mike’s gift cards that we’ll raffle off at the end of each quarter. At the shooting [contest], we’ll get two volunteers at halftime. It’s the first to make a layup, a free throw and three pointer, and a half court shot. If you get that, you win a sweatshirt, and then the runner up gets a t-shirt.”

On Thursday, Jan. 16, Hourigan introduced this new crowd involvement plan at the Girls Varsity Basketball game. Tickets for Masuk students were free, and those in attendance were promised the chance to win gift cards and participate in a half-time shooting contest.

While piloting this approach is exciting for any sport, it was particularly a bonus for the girls basketball team. Although for the past two seasons the girls team have had a higher win percentage than the boys team of the same sport, this has not been reflected in the students who show up to watch. The girls team’s current record of 6-2 does not matter to a population who had programmed itself to not care.

“Yeah, I think that’s been probably a long time as a trend. Typically boys would get a much larger crowd,” said Daniel Young, who has been a coach for the Girls Varsity Basketball team for the past three years. “I guess maybe depends on the sport. And also how the different student groups organize, and what they’re looking to do.”

For a team that has historically gone unappreciated at Masuk, the promise of a crowd was significant. Posts were made and announcements were sent out, eager for the stands to be packed. The school did not disappoint. The bleachers might not have been bursting at the seams, but the typical audience count was easily doubled.

“I would say that it definitely does help,” said Girls Varsity Basketball captain, junior Madison Farrer. “Especially if the other team’s fans are really loud, to kind of counteract that.”

The sentiment was shared among the team. 

“It’s definitely different,” said Girls Varsity Basketball captain, junior Grace Sheppard. “For me, personally, it helps me play better when there’s a bigger crowd.”

This increase in viewership only aided the team in securing a victory.

“I think it’s very motivating. There are more eyes, so you obviously want to play better,” said junior Girls Varsity Basketball captain, Bailey Bajda. “It just felt very forced, though. Like, why are we having gift cards to get people there.”

For all of the students who are capable of finding the time to get to a boys basketball game on the second day of school back from winter break, or who can make the half-hour drive to The Rinks in Shelton on a Wednesday night to see the boys hockey team play, it seems as if none of the roughly 1,000-member student body is willing to clear their schedule for a girls basketball game.

This history of being greeted with far less enthusiasm than most other Masuk sports will hopefully come to an end with the introduction of a more involved spectatorship.

“I hope that maybe this starts [more crowd participation]. We’ve got some activities planned to try to just show the students that you can have a good time at a number of sporting events and activities around the school,” said Hourigan. “I’m hoping it starts a trend. There’s just so many talented people in our school doing so many things, and it’d be great if their peers could come out and support them.”

As Masuk’s winter sports continue on with their seasons, it will be seen just how unified the school can get. The students who trekked to Arute Field at Central Connecticut State University for the Football State Championship and cheered for hours in 30-degree weather have the potential to show their love for all of the athletics programs that Masuk has to offer. Here’s to a new year, and a new energy for our student section.