OPINION By Meghan Plambeck

One of the biggest problems at AHS the past couple of years has been the lack of school spirit. This basketball season however, people outside of the high school would have no idea this was ever a problem. At the boys’ games, the student sections were filled and attendance was at an all-time high.

Almost immediately, after the student section started growing, parents and faculty began to criticize the students’ cheers as unsportsmanlike. Cheers such as chanting “Sit down (Coach)”  and “Start the buses” were hushed by Athletic Director Josh Rasmussen and Principal Heather McKay.

After the substate games against both Harlan and Creston, students from both of the opposing
teams took to Twitter to denounce our student fans. Tweets about how our
student section is “unsportsmanlike” were all over Twitter, then retweeted and favorited by
students of opposing schools and AHS alike. Even one of Creston’s coaches, Todd Jacobson, got in on the fray. He retweeted tweets criticizing our cheers, and he sent a tweet of his own.

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In calling out Atlantic, Jacobson stoops to the same behavior he criticized us for. In an authority role of a coach, Jacobsen should stay off social media sites to complain about the behavior of another school. Students often complain about students from other schools, and they’re entitled to a certain level of stupidity in doing this because of their age. When coaches join in on the social media trash-talk, it makes them appear unprofessional.

When I contacted Jacobson, he said that the tweet was fueled by extreme frustration on what he heard from our student section during the Creston-Atlantic basketball games. He backed this frustration up with seven specific instances, including Atlantic students booing Creston cheerleaders, harassing Creston students via twitter, and damaging Union County vehicles. Jacobson said, “It’s great to push your team but it’s not okay to demean and belittle your opponent.” He went on to mention that he is impressed by the sound behind our “AHS” and “Black and Gold” cheers, but our other chants affect the quality and atmosphere of the game in a negative way.

When the journalism department held an interview with Rasmussen, he recommended shouting the same cheers that Jacobson appreciated. However, the student section doesn’t get involved with these cheers more than two or three times because they get bored repeating the same few cheers over and over. The cheers that make our student section loud and bring us together are the ones that faculty and parents sometimes find offensive. However, very few sports games remain positive the entire time. Both teams want the win, and consequently cheer for their team and against the other team.

Students of AHS are finally coming together and showing school spirit. Unfortunately, any time one of their cheers becomes directed at the other team, or isn’t positive, the cheer gets shut down. Sometimes it’s understandable that a cruel or negative chant cannot be allowed.  Furthermore, students do need to learn that they are responsible for what they post on social media, and they have to face the criticism and consequences of saying offensive things in a public venue. However, the vast majority of cheers and tweets are harmless, over-regulating what students are allowed to say and do comes at the cost of school spirit and a united student body.