Many people get very passionate about sports whether it is  middle school, high school or even little league sports. People’s passion for sports often makes them forget that their negative comments about the team they watch can affect the players. This is displayed frequently during football games throughout the season.

With the football team having a record of 0-8, many people have a lot to say about it. The comments heard from students aren’t too supportive of the football team. Emmanuel Mitchell, junior, believes that the negative comments from students have already gotten to the football team.

“I feel like in the beginning of this season, they were trying but weren’t doing so good. Then people started talking about the fact that they weren’t doing so well and pushing it. Now it’s making them do even worse.”

From the outside view of the team, those who view the games don’t have too much insight into how the team feels and what they think. Jessie Cabrera, senior, expresses that losing games are stressful and he doesn’t like to lose. Cabrera stays positive and learns how he can be better for the next upcoming games.

“Nobody likes a losing season but I try to look at the positive in everything. I always try to take lessons from each game,” said Cabrera. 

Although some players try to stay positive and ignore the negative comments, some people may be more driven to leave the sport than stay. However, it takes drive and motivation to stay and work hard in a sport. Hayden Edwards, junior, states that the negative comments and feedback just want to make him work harder.

“It is not going to take away my love for the sport. It just kind of just makes me think about wanting to work harder,” said Edwards.

The negative feedback is heard and seen by teachers as well. Amy Markan, freshman advanced English teacher, feels that the  student’s behaviors change based on the outcome of the games. Markan believes the negative feedback won’t affect the student-athletes academically but it may affect the student’s confidence.

“I worked at a school where the kids started to go from a losing team to a undefeated team. I don’t know if their grades improved but their confidence improved,” Markan said.

More recently, this has been seen at the team’s current game with Legacy High School. Although the score was 14-27, there was motivation and hard work shown throughout the game. Through all the negative feedback the team has received, they have all still managed to try and push through the feedback.