If you are an avid reader of the LION Newspaper, you know that I do not write for sports. Not because I’m unathletic (I have been known to break ankles in Church League and serve some nasty aces in gym class volleyball) or that I don’t understand sports; my focus has just always been elsewhere in regards to this newspaper.

With that out of the way, it’s important that you know that I am in no ways opposed to sports. I love sports. I have never been a star athlete—I wasn’t tall enough to play basketball or volleyball, or strong enough to continue my gymnastics career. So, I stopped playing sports after grade school. Still, I love to watch football and baseball with my dad, and yes, I do understand what is happening. I am constantly amazed by athletes and their abilities. The discipline, responsibility and strength—physical and mental—is unbelievable.

Even more remarkable is the time and dedication our student athletes put into their sports. All of our athletes put in time and effort, but it seems as though the only ones who receive credit for their hard work are our male athletes. Why are male athletes consistently regarded as more athletic, stronger, tougher, more worthy of our attention?

That rhetorical question can be answered in one sentence: because they are men.

I’m not even talking about this on an international or national scale. Although this is a problem plaguing our society on a larger scale—according to a study done by the University of Minnesota, female sports only receive four percent of all media coverage even though 40 percent of athletes are female. This is a problem that impacts us right here at LT.

Not enough people go to watch our female sports teams. It’s as plain and simple as that. The solution is just as simple as the problem: just go to a game, meet, tournament, anything and show your classmates your support.

I’m going to be honest, I rarely go to girls’ sporting events. The few games I have gone to, I was one of the few students there, and the bleachers were sparsely filled with parents and siblings who were forced to be there. Why does our school spirit only extend to male sports?

I applaud the Weirdos for making a hype video about girl’s basketball and girl’s poms. I think even that amount of visibility is a step in the right direction. But a hype video isn’t enough. Especially when for every one video or post promoting a girls team on the Weirdo’s Instagram, there are 13 videos or posts promoting a boys sporting event. Our female athletes are just as committed as our male athletes. Some of our female teams are arguably better than the male teams of the same sport. They work just as hard, spend just as much time after school and are just as dedicated to their sport as boys. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t all on the Weirdos, it is our collective responsibility to support all of our teams.

Girls sports are just as entertaining as boys sports. There is no reason that our female teams at LT do not receive the same respect; there is no justification other than blatant sexism. Before we can tackle this issue on a national or international scale, we need to tackle it here at LT. Are we really going to allow sexism to influence our school spirit? No chance.