It’s a Friday night in October, and South’s football team is running out onto the field in front of a student section that is overflowing into the band, and across the bleachers, with the Devil’s Den speakers blasting pump-up music.
Flash forward to a 60 degree afternoon in May, and the softball team, one of the best in the state this year, is playing in front of only a handful of parents, siblings and boyfriends. Whether it’s softball, baseball, lacrosse or girls soccer, spring sports just don’t get the same love as the other two seasons.
Charlie Michelotti ’27, a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and baseball, believes that the amount of fans at a game can actually influence the outcome.
“For our football games and some of the big basketball games, we had really good student sections,” Michelotti said. “With all those people there, our team could feed off that energy. I feel like having more people there makes you more hyped to go out there and play.”
Athletes appreciate all of the fans that come to watch the games, but there is something special about the students in particular for Alex Lupo ’26, who has played four sports in her time at South, across all three seasons.
“It really motivates me to play better,” Lupo said. “Knowing you have all of your friends there to watch you is really helpful as an athlete, and just knowing that they are supporting you and want you to succeed.”
It also doesn’t help that the group in charge of getting them at the game and bringing the energy, doesn’t go to any spring games. But it’s not for lack of interest, according to Chase Gordon ’26, a member of the Devil’s Den.
“I promise that we don’t have anything against spring sports,” Gordon said. “And it’s not that I don’t want to go to them, it’s just that half of the Devil’s Den is on the lacrosse team, which practices and plays after school every day, which is the same time as all of the other spring games.”
Spring is also the only season where most games aren’t played at 7 p.m., so that is another possible explanation as to why there are less spectators.
“Part of the reason people came to the basketball and football games, I think, was that they didn’t really have anything else to do,” Michelotti said. “The football games became a must-attend event on Fridays and people wouldn’t really be doing anything else on those nights. That’s not the way it is with baseball, since we play on weekdays, and all of the other spring sports are either practicing or playing too.”
With the majority of spring sports taking place at the same time in different locations, it essentially limits the fans to the fraction of students that don’t play a sport in the spring.
“I’m not playing a spring sport this year, and I have been going to watch a lot of spring games when I can,” Lupo said. “I like to watch my friends and I know I liked it when my friends came to watch me.”
