by Levi Houtman

A lot of sports and clubs go unrecognized in high school due to the popularity of them not being as high as other sports. Sports like football dominate headlines, while others like bowling, swim & dive, golf, tennis, and

 others fly under the radar and don’t get the recognition that they deserve.

The dedication that these kids put into their respective sport is something that is highly looked over. Putting in countless hours of practice, and not being recognized for your accomplishments has an effect on the way you feel. Sitting in second hour and watching announcements, hoping that your name will be called but never is makes you full of emotions. Wanting to know how students who participate in these sports feel, along with their coaches, I went out and asked coaches and their athletes about their thoughts on the topic.

Freshmen Christian Lubbers, who is apart of the Grandville bowling team, shared his thoughts on the topic.

“Some people think that going unnoticed is a bad thing but I kind of see it as a good thing,” Lubbers said. “Some people don’t want the attention while others do. It’s something that can go either way”.

A lot of people see the thought of going unrecognized for your talents as a bad thing, while Christian, on the other hand, sees both sides of the story.

Senior Jayson Klein, who is also a part of the bowling team stated that, “I just want to get recognized for my talents you know? I’m sure others feel the same way that I do. Our grind never stops, and we put in countless hours, yet someone on the bench of the football team gets more recognition than we do.”

Mike Eaton who is the coach of the bowling team stated “I’ve been coaching for the high school for several years now, but I’m not too aware of what happens at school. I think the girls and guys on this team deserve recognition for what they’ve accomplished, as well as any other sport.” If the team wants to get noticed, he said, they “should try and get themselves more well known throughout the school.”

Adam Hunt who participates in men’s swim and dive stated that “Being able to have a student section like the ones at a football game at a swim meet would be ridiculous to see. I think teams should contact the school announcements with their schedule so every student is aware of upcoming games.”

During the announcements, you may see an athlete from a team talk about an upcoming game if more sports teams took action and tried doing this as well more people will be aware of the games.

Kelly Herb who played tennis for all four years of high school commented, “We should all talk with our coaches and teammates and try and work something out, we can’t just expect it by doing nothing.”

Golfer Jay Vanportfliet thinks “The guys on the team should try and make the team more advertised. Post pictures or tweets of when future games are coming up so more people are aware.”

When you scroll through your feed, you may see pictures of past games that a student posted. Varsity football and Rugby senior, Bryce Becker explained that “Certain sports don’t get the recognition they deserve because not everyone’s a fan of it. If spirit busses were offered to go to games like they are in the football season for fans, I’d like to think more people could show up to games.”