The final bell for the start of fourth hour just finished ringing and the lights in the classroom go out. The board at the front flashes on and the “Hey Bengals!” fills the speakers. The Bengal Broadcast has been giving insight on football games during the fall, and reminding us about themes for upcoming games, but what about other sports? How much have you heard about the girl’s swim team or alpine ski team? 

So many students pour their heart and energy into their sport, but often don’t get credit or recognition for the sport/activity that they love. 

Imagine working towards a goal for three months and finally being able to achieve it, only to have no one congratulate you. This is often what happens with those who are on the little-known sports teams here at Blaine. The girls swim team is one of many sports here at Blaine that is an example. They had an incredible season, this was the third year they won the conference, as well as their fifth undefeated year. Yet they only got a black screen with white text saying they won with no picture, no interviews, no other recognition.

When asking the swim captain, Bethany Dang (11), how the team felt after gaining no attention, she commented,  “We felt frustrated. We believe our swim team is one of the most successful teams within the school, and we deserve more representation.” She also talked about how if more people understood how close and positive the swim team is, the more likely people would join the team. “We are extremely supportive of one another, and work together to earn the titles we have as a team. We have endless amounts of fun and a diverse range of personalities. People should definitely join.” With such a positive and fiercely competitive team, who wouldn’t want to join it?

Also lacking in recognition is that trap and skeet team which has always been a very tight-knit group, supporting each other through the highs and lows of the season. The team is always backing each other through life and in their sport as well. “When someone is off shooting we support each other too,” said Austin Anderson (10). However, representation for this sport is hard to come by as not many people know that there is a team, and often when the idea of trap and skeet comes to mind, it comes to the idea of guns, this is what scares people off the idea of joining. “I would want people to understand that even though trap is a sport that uses guns, it is [one] of Minnesota’s safest sports as of 2021,” Austin says.

The alpine ski team is also an extremely close team, often being described as a family throughout most of the team and parents/guardians of the athletes. “…having to spend three nights a week, two hours in a bus a night, and countless hours on the hill, we all become close with one another.” Frank Long (12) said. “If you don’t have a winter sport, you should consider joining, come to a practice, and see if you like it.”

When asked about the representation of the team, he added “I could really say less about the attention that the team gets on Bengal Broadcast.” But he had an idea when it came to giving acknowledgment to the students and teams, “In my mind what should happen is that at the beginning of the week they go through a list of Blaine teams that either scored first or won their event from the previous week.” After talking around across the student body, many people agreed that adding this small segment to the Broadcast would help promote school spirit and give some more representation to the sports.

Blaine High has an extremely diverse student body and will continue to always have a multitude of different sports, clubs, and activities. Bringing some recognition to those who put so much of their time into what is their passion will for sure bring some school spirit to Blaine as well as a sense of community and accomplishment.