By Diana Abou-Saleh
Sports & Managing Editor

A conversation with a classmate put the importance of fandom into perspective for me. Our conversation shifted to basketball. When I mentioned the victory of the Brookhaven College basketball team, my classmate’s facial expression was blank. After a few seconds, she asked, “So, Brookhaven has a basketball team?”

Brookhaven has four athletic programs: men’s baseball, men’s basketball, women’s volleyball and women’s soccer. Like other athletic programs, each includes a coach, a team, practice days, and on game days – a crowd.

All the athletic programs welcome more student support at their games. The athletes, our classmates, need motivation to win, and having a strong fan base can certainly be helpful.

According to the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, fans have the ability to pump up the home team or negatively impact the visiting team.

Sports fandom occurs everywhere. It is a voluntary, social activity. Cheering on the Brookhaven Bears should not be perceived as a pointless, unrelated-to-my-life activity. Attending school sporting events can be fun, entertaining time spent with friends while supporting the school team.

According to Daniel L. Wann, author of “Sports Fans: The Psychology and Social Impact of Spectators,” there are reasons individuals find sports enjoyable. These reasons include benefits associated with self-esteem, an escape from everyday life, entertainment, economic factors, group affiliation and family needs.

Brookhaven students should aim to become aware and supportive of the athletics programs offered.

There are students who wish to attend games, but time is a limiting factor. It is highly unlikely a Brookhaven student or employee will attend every single basketball, baseball, soccer and volleyball game of the season. However, the least a Bears fan can do is try and stay updated with the results of the most important games.

According to Wann, fans who make a connection with a local team bring about a better social relationship. Connections with a local team show a correlation to lower depression and loneliness, can trigger higher self-esteem and create greater levels of trust in people.

Whether it is for the mere beauty of the sport, for social reasons or for the benefits being a fan brings about, students should try to attend games more often and show some Brookhaven spirit.

To find detailed schedules of upcoming games and more information about the athletic department, students can go to Brookhaven’s website.