Everyone knows which sports got the most recognition in high school and college. Everyone knew the star quarterback was the most popular kid in school. Everyone knew the starting pitcher who led his team to a state title. Everyone knew the basketball player who scored 1,000 points last season, but what about all the other sports?

Nobody recognizes the swimmer who has just broken a school record, or the tennis player who had the most single wins in school history, or the fencers who secured their first state title in 15 years. Somehow, everyone seems to forget that these sports exist and think that you would only understand if you were a part of them.

You work just as hard, but get no recognition.

Your sport may be just as tough, but you never get the same recognition that other people do. Being a swimmer, I hear these things all the time. Everyone believes that it’s just splashing around and floating all practice, but it’s far from that. There are miles of swimming every day, 6 a.m. practice and lifting three days a week. We all practice just as hard as the other sports, even though most people don’t know it.

What’s a student section?

You know the feeling of asking people to come to your matches or games and hearing the same thing. “Who would ever want to go to that?” No matter who the competition is or how close it will be, nobody will ever go besides your close friends or family members. Your sport may not attract the most people or be the most exciting, but it’s the sport you love and it shouldn’t matter if one person or your whole school shows up.

The funding isn’t always there.

The baseball team just got new uniforms and the football team just got a new turf field. The tennis team is using the same uniforms their parents did and the swim team is using low-grade suits and generic caps. Your team may not have the same popularity as other sports, but you still deserve to be treated equally. Were not asking to take all the funding, just to spread the wealth a bit.

“Can you even go professional?”

The MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA, they are all sport leagues known around the world. Yes, we realize that our leagues are not as popular, but they still exist. According to Forbes.com, some of the highest paid athletes play these unpopular sports. Roger Federer, professional tennis player, comes in at number five and rakes in $134 million per year. Other names include two golfers, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, who come in at number eight and nine. So before you ask, yes, we do have professional leagues and yes, it’s still possible for us to make it in them.

People who play unpopular sports know the feeling of being under-appreciated. We work just as hard and do everything, if not more, that other sports do, but get half the recognition. All we want is to be on the same level as the bigger sports.