The Online Edition of the Annandale High School Newspaper.

The A-Blast

The Online Edition of the Annandale High School Newspaper.

The A-Blast

The Online Edition of the Annandale High School Newspaper.

The A-Blast

Small change would fill the stands

The final point is scored… and the crowd goes wild!  Scratch that, the crowd of ten people cheers quietly.  At AHS home games , it’s not often that sports players hear the whooping and hollering of a rambunctious crowd.  It’s not that we lack spirit, or talent, but it’s because student fans are unwilling or even unable to pay the entry fee.  Field hockey, lacrosse, volleyball, tennis, softball, baseball, and soccer teams have all experienced it: games without student supporters on the sidelines to cheer them on.  It’s obvious that a change needs to be made.

“It’s rare that we have over twenty people sitting on the bleachers at our home games,” says varsity volleyball captain Sonya Inderbitzen, “and most of the time they are parents or even there for the other team.”

The athletic department should reduce or eliminate entry fees for students to all games outside of the glorified sports of basketball and varsity football.  In this time of economic struggle,  reducing sports game entrance fees for students that show AHS identification upon entry would bolster student attendance to sports games.  A cheaper ticket price would entice students to watch their friends play, even if they only had a few minutes because they would not be wasting money.

Director of Student Activities Angelo Helios says, “We can’t afford to reduce the prices of tickets because although the money we raise through tickets only accounts for less than 20% of our athletic funds, we need as much money as we can get to pay for uniforms since Fairfax county doesn’t provide for them.”

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Based on my mediocre math skills, decreasing ticket prices for students would actually make more profit: ten students paying $1 to see a soccer game would amount to more than one student paying $5.  On top of the money made through students, the school would continue to receive money from dedicated parents, who would pay the original, fixed price.

Have you ever ventured to a sports game at another high school?  W.T. Woodson high offers free tickets to its students for athletic games and fan attendance there is drastically greater.

“The crowd was jam-packed at the Woodson volleyball game, and there were students everywhere!  It was awesome because I got in to the game free by showing them my AHS sweatshirt,” said senior Marquis Perez.

As an athlete that plays the less popular sports of volleyball and tennis, I am tired of committing my time to my sports and not getting to show many people the results of my hard work.  It’s frustrating to look into the bleachers and see that the opposing team has more fans then our team does. It’s even worse when I ask my friends to come and receive the dreaded but typical response, “I don’t want to pay $5 to go to your volleyball game!  I have other things to do that don’t cost me any money!”

As Obama says, its time for change.  Four quarters should be all the change a student needs to get into a sports game. By minimizing the ticket pricing for students attending sports games, our school would reap the benefits.  More confident sports teams, increase in school spirit, greater profit for the school as a whole: all of these improvements due to a small decrease in pricing.

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Small change would fill the stands