The way we gather has changed

Every once in a while, I’ll be standing on a sideline or along a fence and find myself thinking about how much high school sports have changed.

Not necessarily the games themselves.

The way we gather around them.

There was a time when the game was part of the social calendar. Sometimes you knew everybody playing. Sometimes you didn’t. You went anyway.

Of course, everyone remembers packed football stands on Friday nights and crowded gyms during basketball season. Those have always been part of the picture.

But some of my favorite memories of high school sports are hanging out with my friends.

They were baseball and softball games where people gathered around the field. Soccer matches where friends and families came to watch. Cross country meets, golf matches and tennis courts that might never draw the largest crowds but still had people there supporting the athletes competing.

None of those moments needed thousands of people to feel important.

There was just something about being there.

Today, we experience sports differently.

We can watch games from home. Scores reach our phones almost instantly. Highlights can be online minutes after they happen. Photos allow people to see moments they missed. Parents and grandparents who couldn’t possibly make every game can still follow along.

In a lot of ways, that’s a wonderful thing.

High school athletes probably have more people able to follow what they’re doing than ever before.

But there’s still something different about experiencing a game in person.

There’s something different about hearing the crowd react to a big play, watching a close game unfold or being there for a moment that everyone will be talking about the next day.

And there’s something special about students showing up for other students.

Not because they have to.

Sometimes simply because that’s where their friends are.

Maybe school spirit hasn’t disappeared at all.

Maybe it just looks different now.

The packed student section is still special. So is the smaller group of friends who show up to support a teammate or classmate. So are athletes from one sport showing up for another.

Those little pockets of support matter, too.

Sports have always given communities a reason to gather. The way we do that will continue to change, just as almost everything else has.

And maybe that’s why I notice those moments so much from behind my camera.

The game matters.

The score matters.

But sometimes I turn away from the action and see a group of friends laughing in the stands, a little kid watching an older athlete, a former player coming back to support the program or a family that’s been following the same team for years.

And I think those scenes tell part of the story, too.

Because high school sports have never been only about who is playing.

They’ve always been about the people who gather around them.

So maybe there’s a small challenge in all of this.

Sometime this season, go see something you normally wouldn’t.

Pick a baseball or softball game. Go to a soccer match or a volleyball game. Catch a tennis match, or a track meet. Find something on the calendar and go! Students, go see your classmates compete. You don’t have to know every player, understand every strategy or have any connection to the team.

Just go.

Because technology has made it easier than ever to follow high school sports.

But every once in a while, it’s still worth putting down the phone, heading to the field, gym or course and experiencing it together.

There is still something special about being there.