The athletic department at Azusa Pacific University has faced a significant decline in student attendance at their sporting events, leading to empty seats in the stands. To understand the reasons behind this trend, I spoke with athletes and students to gather their perspectives on why student engagement in sporting events has decreased.
Students at APU rarely participate in sporting events on campus. To understand the reason behind this delicate engagement between students, I spoke to two athlete students and four former students at APU to investigate their opinions and why students’ participation in sporting events decreased. To mention my background, I come from Chile, where attending a sporting event is not a demand, but the event itself is a festival where family, friends, and even strangers group together to cheer for their team and country. Interviewing students and hearing their reasons why students are motivated to participate in sports events was truly eye-opening.
One primary reason for the lower levels of school spirit seems to be the disbandment of the football team at APU. Although I was not involved in the football golden era at APU and can’t give much personal insight, many pointed to this as a critical factor behind the decreasing student attendance at sporting events, with interest in campus athletics steadily declining. The COVID-19 pandemic has also been a significant factor that led to a decline in the culture of attending games. In addition to football, there were other reasons students shared about why students avoid sports games on campus.
Mark Choi
Mark Choi, a sophomore majoring in allied health, believes that students don’t show out because they aren’t notified about the events on campus. He shared, “People don’t know what’s happening at school; they don’t necessarily advertise sports games actively.”
Choi further gave his opinion on how this should be improved. “One suggestion is for them to promote more actively. I’ll be interested in joining sports events at APU if they are willing to actively advertise upcoming events. Last semester, I attended the APU vs. Biola basketball game because it went wildly viral, so if it catches my attention, I’m willing to go,” Choi said.
Last semester at APU, during the competition against Biola basketball, the game was shared all around campus, starting with frame signs and posters around campus, which grabbed students’ attention and led to an inclined movement of wanting to participate in the game. In contrast, posters are rarely seen around campus when upcoming sports games are held at APU, leaving students unnoticed about their upcoming games and clueless and unaware of the forthcoming games.
Benjamin Doerksen
Cinematic arts sophomore, Benjamin Doerksen, shares “I think not many people know about it because of its publicity. You may say we have an Instagram account, but competing against the other 300,000 accounts on Instagram is tough, so more promotion must occur to achieve a high turnout. We see different programs at APU, such as the spiritual life program, which is promoted during chapels or posters around campus. Still, I have only seen an upcoming sporting event once. In our APU gathering, we could announce forthcoming sports events. Promoting sports events is not a culture compared to SL [spiritual life] because they promote their programs. To see a change in students’ attendance at the events, it needs to be encouraged and supported to be known.
Stefano Matteucci
Stefano Matteucci is a sophomore majoring in criminal justice; He’s also part of the track and field team at APU. Matteucci claimed there are two reasons why students cannot attend the sports games held at APU. “Some reasons that could keep students away from sporting events could be a load of homework or [it’s] not their desire to attend the event are the two main reasons I think students don’t attend the events, and that’s keep away students from sporting events.”
Matteucci shared his hardships as an athlete, further supporting his claim: “As an athlete, I have three or four hours of my day used from practice and weightlifting, and as a result, I perhaps have 3-5 hours to get my homework done and when I have open days during the weekends, or when my class starts at 12:50, I use that spare time to do homework.”
For myself, with the amount of homework I have, I also feel overwhelmed with the number of assignments and projects that are due in the fourth week of school. But putting my feet into an athlete’s daily routine, I couldn’t begin to measure how stressful and tiring it would be to carry out those obstacles to succeed academically but also in their performance as an athlete.
Carter Mendes
Carter Mendes is a kinesiology sophomore. He’s also an athlete in track and field at APU! “I’d say schedule, being busy, or the friend groups aren’t participating in the sports event; it’s not a popular activity among friends. To conclude, I see the factors as being busy or lacking involvement within the friend group. Because no one is going to the event, you don’t want to feel alone, so it comes naturally to not attend.
Rebekah Krumpe
Rebekah Krumpe, a junior majoring in liberal studies, says, “I think a lot of people are not aware about the sporting events that are happening. Not everyone checks social media, but I have an idea to have an athlete team at Cougar Walk to advertise their games and times and inform students. So, students not being notified is the main reason why students don’t attend the events.”
Brian Peveler
Brian Peveler, a sophomore majoring in cinematic arts, states, “Personally, for me, I have two reasons why students wouldn’t attend sporting events: the lack of knowledge and not understanding of the sport that they are attending to, and a big factor is that none of their friends are attending the event.”
Wrapping Up
One primary reason students aren’t interested in participating in sporting events is that none of their friends are attending, so they feel awkward attending one and missing out on enjoying it as a group. This is a significant factor in why students wouldn’t participate. Last semester, during Trustee’s week, I had the opportunity to attend an acro and tumbling event at APU. Before you read further, I want to notify the readers that I have no background knowledge of the sport acro and tumbling, so I went in blank. After the game, I was amused and wordless; I never thought a sport like acro and tumbling could be this artistic and fascinating but agile and flexible. I also believe that students didn’t have the opportunity to watch a sports game held at APU, so they’re missing out on this event.
Before I end, I want to share the sports community I come from. I come from Chile, where soccer is the most popular sport and has an enormous community. When the season of Copa América (also known as Americas Cup in English) occurs, people gather with friends and families to unite at homes or restaurants to watch the game. Although there are many strangers in the restaurant, most people foster relationships with them and leave the restaurant with a more robust connection, and a new friendship. We unite against majorly well-known teams such as Argentina, Brazil, or Comoblio to cheer for our team. We celebrate victory as a team and feel sorrow when our country loses the tournament, but this intense sensation of supporting their country leads to strangers bonding, giving the feeling that they knew each other like friends the past decade; this should be a community of a sports event. We may have lost our spirit and desire to attend sports games at APU. Still, in the future, I hope that as an APU community, we can bring back this spirit of a sports community and foster new relationships with newer people.