During the 2021 fall season, Foran High School’s student sections for athletics have significantly grown in not only size, but school spirit as well. After almost two years of having no spectators at games due to Covid-19, students were eager to get back into the bleachers to maintain their school spirit.  

     Foran has an Instagram page where games are posted for students to attend. There are four students who run the “Foranathletics” account. These posts encourage students to show support for their classmates. Typically, there is a theme for each sports game for the student section to participate in. 

     One of the four account owners, senior Brayden Young, believes, “The best theme was yellow out, at first I wasn’t a fan of the idea, but then it started to grow on me because it was for a good cause and it was unique.” During this game, Foran fundraised money for Alex’s Lemonade Stand and represented it with a yellow theme for the crowd. 

     Not only do Foran students attend home games to represent their athletics, they even support their athletes at away games as well. 

     During the 2021 fall sports season, a specific game stood out to athletic director, Mr. Anthony Vitelli.

     Vitelli states,“I really thought that this fall, the Foran fans who showed up for the Jonathan Law Volleyball game were fantastic.” He noticed how enthusiastic and supportive the students were in such a respectful way.

     Something that has helped our student sections grow over the years is the Foran Pride Club. This club is run by Mr. Vitelli, and students at Foran can join. In order to join, students have to pay 20 dollars. Then, they’ll be able to get into any home sports game for free at Foran for the entire season. 

     This participation has only brought more positivity to Foran students, athletes, coaches and more. Having an encouraging crowd on the bleachers greatly impacts athletes.

     Specifically in football games, junior James Cobain says, “It’s 100% more motivating when the crowd is cheering because it just becomes background noise to us as players.” He continues on by saying that without a loud crowd, it almost feels as though they’re at a normal practice, which doesn’t help their energy or playing. 

     Finally, being back in the stands and having the ability to cheer on our teams brings students closer together. 

     Mr. Vitelli states, “The players and coaches really get pumped up when the student body comes out and supports them.” Many athletes believe that having strong and passionate fans only benefits our athletics, and Foran overall. 

     Teams are heading into their post season play as of right now. To check out their schedules, visit http://ciacsports.com/site/?page_id=105.