Student section taunts are bullying

As the sports reporter for the CNA, I’ve been to my fair share of every sporting event at the high school level. During this, I’ve experienced both heartwarming and disappointing moments.

I love to see a full and active student section. I love when they engage with the cheerleaders and are loud to support the team. There are chants I love and have a hard time not joining in. Every time they say “And we’re marching...” I want to start stomping with the crowd. That’s a chant, and I love it.

There are also positive cheers focused around when our team does something well. Wrestling is a great example when the whole crowd goes “Twooooo” when our wrestler earns points on a takedown or a reversal. Some schools have specific chants for an ace in volleyball or a made free throw in basketball. I’m a fan of all those cheers.

What I’m not a fan of are taunts. My absolute least favorite are taunts directed at an individual person on the opposing team, but most taunts are avoidable and unnecessary.

Over the course of the summer and fall sports, I’ve felt taunting has become worse. I’m not talking just about Creston, but about area schools and their visiting opponents.

Some ones I hear often are “butterfingers,” “air ball” and “there’s a net there.” These taunts are all directed at an individual person on the opposing team who has made a mistake.

If a student in the classroom was called on and got an answer wrong and their peers called them “stupid” or chanted “wrong answer,” they would likely be punished as their actions are inappropriate and unkind. Taunting is defined as intending to isolate and hurt the target, and the words used are demeaning and cruel. Taunting is a form of bullying.

The ones I mentioned up above are ones we’ve grown accustomed to as a sports society. We chalk it up to “kids being kids” and not understanding the impact of their words. But if they know not to do it in the classroom, they know it’s inappropriate. It’s up to us as adults to instill this in them.

The taunts I’ve been hearing have been getting worse during the summer and fall sports. Some new ones that have had me very disappointed are “that was awful” and “you’re irrelevant.” The latter was said by the Creston student section. During baseball, an opposing team was calling out one of our players by name and taunting his performance. It got so bad that the umpires had to get involved.

I was a cheerleader in high school and a rowdy member of the student section. It’s encouraged to be loud and even annoying, but that’s all possible without taunting. There are infinite ways to bolster your team without tearing down your opponent.

We already have several sports and their fans that do a fantastic job of demonstrating positive vocal behavior. Cross country, wrestling and track and field are all great examples.

Cross country is possibly the best example because no one goes out there and yells negative things at a runner. In fact, it’s very common for fans to cheer for runners of area schools and any runner coming through after their final runner. One of the greatest things is watching everyone cheer for the last few runners coming through. You could argue they “didn’t do a good job” because they didn’t win or even medal, but no one is punching down. They’re supporting.

When we taunt to the other student section, it incentivizes the other student section to taunt our players. I’ll never forget being on the sidelines during the Lewis Central football game. We were down like 30 points and the other student section hadn’t been saying much. Our student section started being rowdy and so theirs answered in return.

All of the sudden, the Titans were chanting “butterfingers” and “this game’s over.” Our boys were already dejected and our student section added onto it. They made it worse for our team.

Talk to your kids please. We all have a conscience to know what constitutes bad behavior. It’s time to start lifting up and not punching down.