By Rory Dulock | Staff Writer
As Baylor students, we have the privilege of attending a D1 university that is a part of the Big 12, meaning there are a lot of exciting sporting events to attend. Baylor offers 12 different sports — football, basketball, softball, baseball, tennis, track and field, cross country, acrobatics and tumbling, golf, equestrian, soccer and volleyball. Yet, I only hear students talk about two of them — football and basketball.
Don’t get me wrong — I love to watch football and basketball. In fact, football is probably my favorite sport to watch. But why are these the only two sports that students ever talk about? I mean, I get that “we’re a basketball school” and being in Texas automatically makes football a big deal, but Baylor’s other sports teams are just as important and deserve more support from the student body.
My fellow Bears, make it a priority this year to go and support the other sports teams at Baylor. They put in a lot work and are just as successful and deserving of support.
I grew up watching a variety of sports with my family, so I have grown to appreciate the different set of skills and competitiveness that is unique to each sport. Not only did I grow up watching sports, but I got to try my hand at several of them, including softball, volleyball, basketball, cross country, archery, tennis and golf. So trust me when I say it takes a lot of time and dedication to participate in any sport.
If I spent a lot of time practicing sports back in high school, just imagine the amount of time Baylor student-athletes spend on their sports. Depending on the season, they can spend several hours a day practicing their sport, all while trying to balance school work. That’s not to mention the amount of time it takes for them to travel to their away games and competitions to represent our university.
For all of the time they put in representing our school to the best of their ability, the least we can do as students is to go watch them when they compete in Waco. Plus, as students we can get in free at any sporting event. Besides football and basketball, all other sports don’t require going through the hassle of getting a student ticket beforehand, so take advantage of the opportunity to support other Baylor Bears.
The Baylor acrobatics and tumbling team got its ninth-straight NCATA national championship this past spring. Why aren’t they talked about more? Winning a national championship is a big deal and speaks to the strength of that program. Also, the women’s golf team got fourth in the Big 12 Championship this past spring which is just as impressive. Our softball and baseball teams are also known to make it far in their Big 12 tournaments at the end of their seasons.
I understand that it can get hectic for us students during the school year because we have so many things going on, but just imagine how hectic it is for our student-athletes. Make an effort to attend a variety of Baylor sporting events because they deserve student support.
