There’s something about football season.
Tailgating, the changing weather, the new stadium and last but not least, the student section. A sacred space, where we can get uncomfortably close to one another and scream in support of our team. But, is it just me, or does the student section seem to be host to more than just students?
I arrived relatively early to my first football game of the season, and being a student, I assumed that my friends and I would get a decent spot in the student section. Maybe we didn’t get there hours early, but the student section was packed to the front. We worked our way up and when we finally found a spot to stand we realized there were parents sitting behind us, they were cute, with their daughter’s cheerleading button pinned perfectly to their chests. I looked at the rest of the student section and realized that only the front of the section was occupied by students, the rest filled with seated parents. Dude. What the heck? This is the student section, not student/parent section. After informing us that they’d gotten here hours prior to the game to get these seats, the parents behind us eventually moved back a few rows. I felt bad, they came to see their daughter and we’d made them move. But really? Could they not tell that the standing, screaming students had claimed their territory?
Standing in the student section is a long held tradition. Back at Haskell, when I was a mere junior high student not paying the least bit of attention to the game, I’d look at the student section and see it packed with students. Shirtless senior boys and sports bra clad girls with paint on their stomach. That’s just how it works.
When I was a sophomore I had to stand in the back of the student section. As a junior I worked my way down to the middle. And now, as a senior, I feel I have the right to stand in the front of the student section with the rest of my senior class. But the parents are killing this! Taking up the top half of the section and forcing us into a smaller area. Not to mention how impossible it is to walk in front of the section to go to the bathroom or grab some food. If you’ve been to a game this season you know what I’m talking about.
The student section needs to be reserved solely for students. If this means getting a group of students together to show up early and let the parents know it’s our spot, let’s do it. We can spread out over the entire section and not end up crammed up against the railing. Parents will be happier when they’re not stuck sitting behind screaming students and we’ll be happier when we’re not crammed in front of them. There are FIVE other sections that the parents can pop a squat in, I’m not giving up my section.