Athlete Perspective: Raylene Guzman

In the days leading up to Friday night football games in the fall, I witnessed countless students preparing, whether it be Big USB making posters or the cheerleaders perfecting their routines, or pep rallies that were jam packed with students watching in awe as cheer, dance and the Spartan Legion performed.

Later in the evening, I got to see exactly how the crowd’s energy impacted the flow of the game. The louder they cheered, the more engaged the players became. After touchdowns, the crowd went wild. When reporting on the field, I could hear them chanting “I believe that we will win, I believe that we will win!” and stomping to the beat of a melody played by the band. It was energizing and sticks vividly in my mind.

Witnessing what seems to be a majority of our school come together is truly amazing and what makes our campus wonderful. However, as a girls varsity wrestler, I cannot help but wonder what it would feel like if more people attended our meets.

It sometimes feels as though winter and spring sports, like my sport, wrestling, do not get as much attention, even though we still win league titles and represent the school in playoffs. In addition, it often feels like the number of fans at our events is significantly smaller than a football game. Although our sports may not be as popular, they are just as exciting and interesting.

So, it would be my holiday wish that this winter, after the holiday rush is over, my Spartan family would come out to a wrestling match – or a soccer match, or a spring softball game or track meet. While they are there, they will be loud, and proud, and fire us up. It is my hope that my Spartan family will express its enthusiasm for our sports, and will intimidate our opponent with its singing, chanting and believing that we, too, will win.

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