Dedicated fandom can make all the difference for student-athletes
As a Toro student-athlete, there’s nothing like lacing up your shoes for a big game against a crosstown rival. Walking onto the court for warm-ups, you can’t help but feel the electricity in the air – so thick you could cut it with a knife, so charged you could hear the buzz in the building.
That’s exactly what it was earlier this month when my teammates and I arrived at the University Gym to take on CSULA. We didn’t receive the warmest reception from the Golden Eagle faithful, of course. The only thing louder than the fans’ booing us, was their cheering for CSULA.
Although we played our hearts out all game, we came up short. I could help but wonder how we might have fared had more of our fans been there to rally around us. All game, it seemed the CSULA fans gave the Golden Eagles the boost they needed to make the most of their home court advantage and win the game.
Fan support at Dominguez Hills has come in short waves. Getting people out to the games for Toros Athletics can sometimes take a lot of effort, but the support can make all the difference between victory or defeat – and it’s just good for school spirit overall. Plus, Toros Athletics has had a lot of success this year, and in my opinion, that deserves a lot more love and recognition from the university community. Some students aren’t even aware that this year, my teammates and I won the CCAA regular season title for only the fourth time in school history.
To be fair, this is understandable. CSUDH is a commuter campus and some students are probably too busy going from home to school to work and back again to pay attention to Toros Athletics. Still, campus sports are an important part of the college experience, and I think there’s a lot of pride for people to have in what Toro student-athletes are doing. At the same time, student-athletes can also do more to put themselves out there in the campus community.
For the time, effort, and dedication Toro student-athletes put into representing CSUDH, there’s just something special about hearing the roar of your hometown crowd. It gives you goosebumps and that little something extra that we need sometimes to win. The cheering from the fans makes me want to play even harder and perform at the highest level I can.
One of my most memorable games of my career as a Toro student-athlete was the Homecoming game this year against Sonoma State. The crowd was packed and it was the most electric game we had played at home – I think the fans were a big part of why we won. That kind of support is something I always long to have from the fans every time I put on my jersey to represent CSUDH.
Sports have a way of bringing communities together, especially at the collegiate level. We have the potential to create a fan culture that extends far beyond the limits of Dominguez Hills, but we need to start with getting more people out to the game and showing their support. Not only would it benefit our campus culture, but hopefully drive interest in students to enroll at the university. In my experience, when school teams are successful, there’s more vested interest in that school and its students.
And at the end of the day, student success is what it’s all about.
