Last week, an article titled “From the editor's desk to the sports section: My first foray into football”, was published in the Rice Thresher's sports section. The author, a self-confessed football novice, with an "athletically disinclined mind" went into extensive detail about the worthlessness of football, and in turn, college athletics as a whole. As I read the article, all I could see was a big, fat "f*ck you" to every single Rice athlete who dedicates their time, effort, energy, and willpower into striving for athletic excellence, so they may represent their school to the best of their ability. In every sarcastic comment at the incompetency (and homoeroticism?) of the football team, I saw the sentiments of a disinterested student body that neither cares nor wants to care about the athletic achievements of their fellow students. One giant question glared out at me from the editorial, echoed in the attitudes of many other Rice students: Why should I give a damn about sports at Rice?
For the past few months, I have been investigating the extent of mental health concerns for female student athletes at Rice as part of a semester-long group sociology project. We distributed comprehensive surveys to all the female athletes at Rice, receiving responses from 95 of 126 student-athletes, and conducted small focus groups to get a better sense of the issues concerning athletes on campus. One of the areas we focused on was the perceived level of support that athletes have, both from the administration and the wider student body. Overwhelmingly, 32 percent of our female athletes reported feeling "very unsupported" by the student body. Similarly, the focus groups we conducted told us that the majority of athletes felt as if Rice students were doing a relatively poor job at getting out to games, meets and matches and supporting their athletes. While we looked at female athletes only, it is not hard to imagine that the male teams have very similar concerns when it comes to the the amount of support they receive from Rice students. Thus, our hypothesis of a general climate of disinterest and apathy surrounding sport on campus was unquestionably confirmed by the results of our study.
When the Thresher runs an article that spends every single sentence mocking and belittling the efforts of Rice football team and aggressively parading the authors disinterest in sports, I ask, how are the student-athletes of this university meant to feel? Every 5 a.m. workout, countless reps in the weights room, all the blood, sweat, and tears of a grueling season that did not go to plan, summarized and satirized neatly into a 600-word op-ed that belittles the sport to nothing but a "glorified orgy." It was exciting to see the Thresher shedding light on some of the challenges student-athletes experience at Rice only four weeks ago; however, when they follow it up with a piece that inadvertently mocks and trivializes these very same athletes, it is hard to believe their sincerity. Our student-athletes deserve to feel supported and respected by their peers; they deserve to be recognized for the tremendous time, dedication, and effort that they put into their sport. They deserve to have fans that care about them as both athletes and humans, rather than mock them from the sidelines without a second thought.
It is exceptionally difficult to convince our peers to care about athletics at Rice, but it is nevertheless an important endeavor. I have no idea how to do it, but I know that it is essential for the continued success and well-being of our student-athletes. No — football, and college sport in general, may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but when the biggest complaint from Rice athletes is an overwhelming lack of support from the rest of the student body, surely we could put aside these sentiments and give athletes and their sports a chance.
