Written by; Sameh Esmaeili and Kaleah Syvirathphan
This year the Visalia Unified School District (VUSD) has decided not to have music at any high school football game. This change was a shock to Redwood Rangers that won’t be experiencing the music at the games and to the rest of the school who won’t get to sing along anymore.
Kierra Venegas, ’19, has been going to every one of the football games since freshmen year. “I understand the refs point of view and parents. But it takes out all of the fun.”Venegas doesn’t think that this change will effect the freshmen. She also says, “I’m kinda upset, its my senior year and I don’t like the changes that they are making.”
Being his first time playing on varsity Dominick McCormick 21′ said, “I’m kinda disappointed because all the other years there was music and this is my first year on varsity and there is no music.” It’s going to affect the student section the most because most of the kids go and get pumped up for the game. Shaun Ball the varsity coach said,“It shouldn’t affect the boys.We have had meetings with our new band director, cheer and ASB…it shouldn’t be different. We have a plan in place.”
Dave Watts, the Junior Varsity coach, feels like having the students paying more attention to the game than music is a good thing instead of coming down and having a party. When asked “do you think it will be effective on the students teachers and parents being concerned,” Watts replied, “Well I gotta go back to what I’m used to, which was only the band. The band came and got everybody fired up, they knew when to play and when not to play. The music they played was inspiring the crowd. But the music that is being played now by the DJ is party music. We are here for a football game not a party.” This idea that energy should given off by the band instead of inappropriate “party” music was a big deal for many students and even parents at the games.
Alejandro Rivera, ‘19, is on the varsity football team and he said that it wouldn’t affect him individually but it will affect his teammates. “Music gets us pumped up, when you see the fans going wild and having fun. Knowing that there’s people there to support us. I don’t like it but you just have to deal with it. It’s not going to be as crazy as it used to be, it’s going to be more mellowed out.”
Brayden Herrera, ’20, is the flag runner during the games and is an ASB representative along with a few others who stand on the track and hype kids up by doing chants and singing songs just without music. He says, “I personally feel like it was not a smart idea. Music is a way to get all of us involved.” When asked how this change will affect the students Herrera said,”It affects the students because it really gets them involved. [The district wants] the high school games to be more like college football, but they have to realize that we’re not in college.” Music brings us together and gets everyone more involved.
Christian Urbina was a representative from Golden West High school’s ASB, that went to the board meeting. He tweeted why VUSD banned music, “They said inappropriate music was played, parents are unable to hear announcer during the games, referees complained about music being played at the wrong time, the district wants to make High-school football games more like college football games, and they want students to focus on the actual game rather than the music.” He personally shared his proposal to bring music back which stated that the playlist would be created ahead of time to make sure it was fully appropriate and a teacher would be needed to oversee the student section and make sure band got their fair share on music and everything was played at appropriate times.
Most students weren’t exactly happy to hear that music is not going to be played at games around Visalia but it shouldn’t hinder our excitement for our football players’ games. These players put in a lot of effort to be able to play against other schools and we should be there to support our Rangers! Football games are a place to show our school spirit and have fun. Let’s continue to show our love and appreciation for our football team!
Tags: friday night lights, journalism, mr. ranger, Redwood, redwood football, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood ranger, redwood sports, spirit, student section