Getting in their heads

One of the best things a student section can do is distract the opposing team’s players. If the members of a student section can get in the heads of the other team, they can have a huge impact on the game.

Picture this, it’s the fourth quarter of a big football game and your team is trailing by 2 points. You stand 35 yards away from the goalposts. Its 4^th down and there are 20 seconds left on the clock. You set up to kick, your focus narrows. Just kick the ball straight and far and our team will go to the playoffs. But slowly, something starts to penetrate through your bubble of concentration. Three words, “Block that kick”, and it’s getting louder and louder.

A moment before you were thinking about the kick. Now all you can focus on is what’s going on over in the stands. You try to pull your focus back but it’s in there now. You can feel the hundreds of voices shouting as if they were standing deep in your ear. The ball is snapped, the holder catches it and puts it down. You take two steps toward the ball and kick…

The ball veers right and misses. Your team goes home. The season is over.

The student sections team goes on.

That is just one example of the huge impact the students can have on a game.

In my experience, there are two main ways to get into their heads. The first is a constant effort. It is the cheering that never stops. It’s being loud, crazy, and generally distracting the whole game. The second is usually situation or player specific. Examples of situation specific things would be, last minute field goals, goal line stands, free throws, and any other “Big play” situations. Player specific distractions usually apply to a star player. Things like yelling out their name, or something about them can distract the player and make them mess up. It doesn’t have to be a star player either, its often easiest to distract a player with something specific about them.

For example, in a basketball game last year, the student section noticed that a player on the opposing team’s shorts were just a little too small and pulled up a little too high. That coupled with the fact he was wearing glasses was enough to earn him the name “Steve Urcle”. By the end of the game he was so upset that he completely lost focus on the game and was benched.

Never underestimate your ability to affect the outcome of a game. The student section truly can be the extra man.