Student body participation in sports should matter
Kian Hagerman
Mesa Legend
The sports teams at MCC exemplify some of the best traits students can possess, but if only a few are watching, the efforts they make will not extend much further than the locker room. I have talked to coaches about the goals they have for their teams, and it has often been said to me that academic performance is not just as important as an athlete’s competitive performance, but of greater importance. What I would like to see from both the department, as well as the school is increased effort to motivate students to participate in MCC’s athletic programs.
When covering one of the various sports that MCC contends in, I would sometimes ask students mulling about campus about their thoughts regarding the performance of the team. More often than not, I would get quizzical responses, to the effect that the people I questioned were unaware that we even had said sports team. I think there is an opportunity being missed, to engage the student body, and promote activities that MCC funds that might grow in popularity if some effort was put into getting the word out more. I appreciate the fact that there are some measures taken to inform people of upcoming matches and meets, but either what is done is not enough or is ineffective.
If after doing all that is feasible to let students know, people make the choice not to attend then at least they were given the option to take advantage of events that a portion of their tuition (however small it may be) goes toward making possible. If there is no interest in the sport outside of those participating though, perhaps there should be some consideration of whether the school should be involved in that particular sport. Fencing is fairly popular internationally, and there may be many at MCC who are both willing and able to join a fencing team if the school established one.
That does not however mean that there should be; not every student’s interests can be entertained by the school and some thought should be put into prioritizing such matters. I would honestly rather have my tuition costs reduced and some programs cut if they aren’t financially viable, and I think that is only reasonable. There will of course be some areas where recouping expenses is not possible, and yet are still valuable enough to continue with. All I ask is that the school offer students more complete information about what goes on around. campus, and the athletics department would be as good a place to start as any.
