UHCL needs something to cheer for

UHCL needs to give our Spirit Squad and the community something to cheer for. By bringing intercollegiate sports to campus, it would give students something to be proud of and raise school spirit.

When I looked at my wardrobe the other day, I realized I had 10 Louisiana State University (LSU) shirts and only one UHCL shirt. Being from Baton Rouge, I always grab LSU gear whenever I see it. LSU fans, like myself, are proud of their home team and like to sport the school colors, watch every game and keep up with the players.

When I walk around UHCL campus, I see students of all ages wearing shirts from different colleges. Whether this is just a team they root for or leftover from a previous college, they do not sport UHCL gear. The only people who seem to have UHCL school spirit are the people who work on campus.

We live in a state that prides itself on football. Football movies, such as “Friday Night Lights” and “Varsity Blues” take place right here in the Lone Star State. Texas produced seven starting quarterbacks for the 2016 season –  the highest amount for any state in the nation.

In high school, many students played sports, but after graduation they moved out of Houston to continue their sports careers. They didn’t move across the street to play ball for UHCL.

Since UHCL is now a four-year university, it’s time to bring intercollegiate sports to campus.

We might not have the student population or student interest capable of creating an all-star team, but we have student organizations that play sports. We have organizations such as The Cricket Club and The Volleyball Club and intramural sports such as kickball and basketball. These sports are popular amongst UHCL students and generate a following.

We’re not a cookie-cutter school, so we don’t necessarily need a cookie-cutter sports team.

We can start small with a sport that represents our diversity – cricket, table tennis, maybe even quidditch. We shouldn’t expect to have elite-athletes immediately on campus, but at least starting will give students a chance to add to their athletic careers. Attending local games gives the students that college experience and gives the community a reason to come to campus besides attending class.

Students are obviously interested in participating in sports since they created student organizations, so why not actually compete against other schools? Competing against rival schools instills pride in your school, which we do not have at the moment.

UHCL recently started construction on the recreation and wellness center building and hired a new director of campus recreation. With these new additions, I hope that the topic of intercollegiate sports will be brought up and hopefully implemented. UHCL tried intramural sports, but it didn’t seem to work. The student orgs have been successful yet doesn’t bring school spirit to all members of the UHCL community.

Bringing intercollegiate sports to campus will unite the students with a common interest  – pride in the university. UHCL will have a stronger on-campus presence by producing events such as tailgating, fundraisers and new merchandise. When further developed, scholarships could entice students to enroll at UHCL.

Freshmen come to college so they can live the college experience, including attending games, living on campus, and participating in events. School spirit can’t rely solely on academics.

Our mascot is the Hawk, an aggressive predator. I feel like our mascot should be the deer because we are such a quiet campus. We should be proud to be a UHCL hawk. Students need to have pride in their college or else they will go somewhere else.