In a school dominated by football, basketball, and baseball, less popular sports take a backseat to the main players, and it is not their fault. Lesser known sports in North Atlanta are filled with stud athletes, who are bound for playing their beloved sport at the next level. Their countless hours and greatness in their sport may only ever be shown by a mear signing day, or by the occasional warrior wire article. However, a lot of sports fly under the radar, and the athletes in the sports never get to be shown to the North Atlanta public. With all of the pep rallies and school focused events going to basketball and football, the other sports can’t compete with their popularity, and this shows in their games attendance. An example of this is the boys golf team, just last year they had a kid who was so good he won a national tournament and went on to play at a prestigious division one school, but 90% of North Atlanta doesn’t know this. However, and no knock to this player as his love is justified, Chase Linton went to play at UGA, and he was the talk of the school for many months. Both Chase and the golfer were excellent in their sport, but only one is talked about, and this is a problem in North Atlanta sports.
Another sport lacking love is wrestling, and their new female team. Girls wrestling became a thing essentially last year at North Atlanta, and in just two years sophomore Sophia Gonzalez became a state placer, knocking off a two-time state champ at state to achieve this honor. This was hardly talked about at NAHS, and the only thing to showcase her talent was a small intercom shoutout at the beginning of school the following week. Another example of a stud team who is little talked about for their athletic dominance is the NAHS fencing team. Year after year now they bring home gold at the state tournament, and 60% of North Atlanta doesn’t even know what fencing is. This team may be the best team North Atlanta currently has, but they are not even mentioned at pep rallies or on the intercom, they get 0 recognition. All of these sports and athletes all deserve the same love and recognition as the more loved teams. It would be awesome if North Atlanta implemented something to give these sports love. Something like multiple pep rallies with some focused on sports that are not football/basketball, or even a better way to promote the events that these teams go to. Maybe a team bus for fans can go to a few big events for each team a year, making it very accessible to the students and letting them go all together, which would make it much more fun. Something needs to change, and it needs to be soon.
