“They let us hear a pin drop when we’re on offense. But then crank it up on defense,” said former offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos, Patrick Shurmur. There is no doubt that the home-field advantage exists. The fans, the atmosphere, and the field are all familiar to the team playing at home which undoubtedly gives them an advantage. This is at the professional level of course, but does the home-field advantage provide any sort of advantage at a high school level? The home-field advantage is an overlooked one, but sometimes it can be a deciding factor in a game.
“[H]ome games really help our team because the atmosphere feeds into the play on the field,” said sophomore football player Aleks Paskiewicz. “[W]hen we make a great play the crowd gets hype and it gives us motivation to keep making great plays.”
Alex talks about how the home-field advantage helps the football team stay in the game and how the crowd encourages them to give it their all. Saint Viator has a nice home field and an even more supporting crowd.
“I[t] just feels like home, it’s our house, you just can’t let another team come in and walk all over you. You have to protect your home field,” said senior Charlie Ford.
In both cases, the home-field advantage played a big part in games due to motivating the team during the game or giving them a warrior spirit. The home field consists of many factors: the crowd, the field, the facilities, the environment, etc. What is a key part of the home field, the crowd.
Crowds make up the home field and Saint Viator has a very enthusiastic crowd.
“[V]iator’s games are so much fun and it’s a great way to show [your] support for [V]iator,” said junior Brianna Santucci. “Everyone is super loud…ever since [I] went to one [I] never want to miss one.”
Agreeing to previous interviews, Brianna believes that the crowd helps create the atmosphere which can give teams an advantage since there is so much support and love for the team from the Saint Viator community.
“Whenever I go to the football games everyone is really loud and supportive,” said sophomore Matthew Wallace. “If Viator makes a good play we get hype. Everyone is so supportive of each other. It’s like we become united at these games, the crowd is definitely the reason I never want to miss another game!”
Both interviews show that the crowd helps not only the players but also the students who come out and show support. They get a better experience at Viator which is a reason why students should come out and support Viator’s teams. The home field is usually the field where a team practices, understandably this can give a team an advantage. The team at their home knows the field and students are there right at Viator to support the teams, but what about the teams that don’t have games on campus?
Some Saint Viator teams such as the football team don’t play on campus. This leads people to believe that Viator doesn’t have a home-field advantage at Forest View.
“As far as playing at Forest View it’s not the most ideal setup, although we make the best of it, from the standpoint of being on campus…I think that we make Forest View a home field as much as we make it a home field in other words students have to come out to the game[s] family and friends at the school have to come out to the game[s],” said theology teacher Mr. Tubridy. “It’s the crowd that makes it a home field, it’s not where it is.”
Mr. Tubridy’s view complements the other interviews that the crowd is what makes a home field and that is what provides the advantage. If students want Viator to get every edge in a game, including the home-field advantage, they have to come out and support the team. The crowd can create the home-field advantage, not the field itself.
For Saint Viator to gain a similar advantage at their home field as the Denver Broncos, students, friends, and family have to come out and show presence and support for the teams. If we want an edge on other teams we have to show our presence not as a school, but as a family, by coming out to the games and physically being there to support our teams.