One of the biggest factors in a win or loss in sports has to do with the power of the student section. Players feed off the energy that their fellow students create and how they can control the opposing team and their confidence level. After the WIAA witnessed cheers during the volleyball postseason, they decided it has gone too far and that it needed to be changed. In late December, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association sent out an email banning student sections from saying chants that were directed at the opponents with intent to taunt and/or disrespect.

Student sections have been using the same cheers for years. Why is this just happening now? The list includes but is not limited to “air ball,” “scoreboard,” “there’s a net there,” “you can’t do that” and “season’s over.”

It had nothing to do with vulgar language, but with a sudden concern with the

feelings that are being hurt by these cheers, that once again, have been used for numerous years.

Every basketball player knows that if they air ball a shot on the road, the student section is going to chant air ball. Students have been doing it for so long, and players have learned just to shut it out and not let it affect their game, but apparently the WIAA has not witnessed enough games the past several years to notice the commonality. The student section is built to help cheer on your peers and to give your team the advantage, especially on your home court.

Student sections are known for picking out the opponents’ weaknesses, but it doesn’t carry through to the player level. Players typically don’t throw punches or smack talk directly to their opponent. Players respect each other, and the students that aren’t in that particular sport have the freedom of speech, and I would think that it would include cheering at a basketball game.

April Gehl, a three-sport athlete at Hilbert High School, was suspended for five basketball games for sending out a tweet with profanity about the WIAA and their new rule. At a high school in Ashwaubenon, 27 miles away, the student section at a basketball game wore all black and had duct tape covering their mouths that said ”WIAA.”

The WIAA has taken away the power of voice from students all across the state of Wisconsin and I, along with many others, do not agree with it. If it something isn’t broke, don’t try to fix it.