“North sucks.” Words and phrases like this are thrown around a lot when North High athletics is talked about, especially about football or the girls basketball. Those tunes change when boys basketball comes up. If we look at those who badmouth our teams are quite often people who don’t go to North or don’t go out for our sports.

If you have ever taken a look at our teams, they aren’t that big in terms of numbers. A good football team has about 50 or more players, North has about 30 players if you count ineligibles. The girls basketball team has nine players, they often play teams with double their numbers. By the end of the first half our side is barely capable of playing while our opponents most often have a good second string of players to shuffle in, that is a crucial disadvantage. They aren’t alone, boys cross country and boys golf both struggle for full teams.

On the flip-side look at our boys basketball team, they have a plenty of players at the Freshmen, Sophomore, and Varsity levels. So many players that some don’t even dress. It’s not a coincidence that our best perceived sport gets the most athletic turnout. Sports which are historically weak get less players going out for them. It turn into a vicious cycle; no players come out and the team gets worse and even less players come out next year.

In all truthfulness there are other factors that cause the losing seasons, but between coaching changes and ineligibility the biggest problem is lack of turnout. There are even sports that have a good number of participants but still lose more than they win, like bowling and tennis.

The biggest problem with the low turnout is that we have great athletes here at North. There isn’t a block of gym where you don’t see someone running faster than a track star or someone that is lifting more then the starting linemen. We all know someone who should go out, but doesn’t for whatever reason.

You don’t even have to be a true athlete to go out for sports; I’m proof of that, I played three sports and managed another last year. This year I’m playing four sports and managed two others. I’m no athlete and never claimed to be, I’m simply a competitive person who loves sports and wants to improve my school.

You don’t enjoy sports, that’s fine, just don’t bring it down when you don’t go out for anything. Even showing up to the games is something. Participation helps the school and can help you, it forces you to get good grades, learn to work for others, and work with others. This isn’t school lunches where you have little to no impact, you can impact and change turnout. So go out if you can, don’t complain if you won’t.