The Fredericton High School (FHS) Black Kat’s football game versus Leo Hayes High School (LHHS) on October 7th was a huge success, with FHS leaving the field celebrating a strong 38-6 win! All FHS students showed up and showed out — black and yellow adorned the stands and cheers were heard for miles! The school spirit that was brought to the game by students was greatly appreciated, accomplishing our goal of encouraging the Black Kats football team to play their hearts out.
It’s always go big or go home, but sometimes there are critical moments where it's important to read the room. During the third quarter of the game, one of the opponents on the field experienced an injury and spent a few minutes sprawled across the ground. It quickly became evident to both teams that this player was seriously hurt and in need of some help up and off of the field for the rest of the game.
Commonly in sports, no matter the team, when one player is injured and receiving help off of the field both teams will kneel in silence out of respect. At FHS, we value great sportsmanship and respect with utmost importance so, fittingly, our players took a knee. During this time though, our student section failed to show as much respect as that of the players they were there in support of! Cheers continued ignorantly and sarcastic remarks were thrown around.
FHS is so lucky to have students that continuously cheer and enforce enthusiasm at their sporting events, but it should be kept in mind that we never want to paint our players in a bad light. Our goal is to encourage and upraise all players — no matter the team — and actively practice respect.
With that being said, it's up to everyone to work towards doing just that in moments such as a player injury to avoid an incident like this reoccurring. Keep on cheering for our Black Kats, but most importantly: do so with respect.
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