It’s basically known that cheerleaders really only get to cheer for the boys.  Whether that’s football or basketball, not many have ever seen cheerleaders at a girls basketball game.  It makes you really wonder why if cheerleaders cheer at boys’ games shouldn’t they be able to cheer at girls’ games? Boys get constant support in their games from cheerleaders but girls haven’t gotten that opportunity very often.  Not only is it the cheering aspect of it but it’s also the support that each of them receives. Do girls’ achievements in sports get shown off as much as the boys get shown off? Right off the bat, you could say that they don’t get as much support because of the fact that they are not able to be cheered for.  On the other hand, you could say they do receive the same amount of support because they all have similar events.  For example, the boys and girls basketball team both have senior nights and that is announced on the social media platforms of Imagine Prep.  Coming to a concluded answer will answer the question that many have been wondering for years, are boys more supported in sports than girls?

Ultimately, it was important to get the perspective of a coach. Coach James Mould has previously worked with the girl’s team and provided a different perspective.  I think many would agree that in general in a lot of school’s boys teams receive a little more support than girls do in terms of the sport of basketball.  

“Honestly at this point, I do see that there is a little bit more attention towards varsity boys basketball than there is for varsity girls basketball, I know a lot of that may have to do with the circumstances we’re in right now but hopefully that changes going forward,” Mould said. 

The Imagine Prep administration does try its best to include the same support to girls as well as boys. There have also been a lot of recent changes going on, for example, the Coronavirus threw off a lot of important things, so has it always been this way even before Covid?

“I think it just recently changed, I mean in the past we’ve had just as much attention towards the girls in my opinion. Not just with cheer but with attendance and with interest in the school and things like that so we’ve tried to make sure it’s balanced,” Mould added. 

With everyone’s perspective in the mix, how do the girls in sports feel about it? 

The girls deserve the same support that the boys receive in any sport, and I’m sure they would agree.  To be able to really understand their first-hand perspective, I interviewed a girl from the basketball team that would like to remain anonymous. I thought it was important to ask her if in general, she felt like boys were given more support than girls in basketball. 

“Absolutely the boys are more supported, starting off with the school social media, they were consistently mentioned with stats, pictures, and scores from their game unlike the girl’s team where we had to ask for the same recognition,”

Her statement was interesting to hear and was important so that we can better understand how this is affecting the players.  On Imagine Prep’s Instagram page the stats and scores are shown all over their page, I have also noticed that the boys were posted way more frequently than the girls were this season.  In terms of the cheering, the boys have always been cheered for but the girls have not.  At a game it is important to feel cheered on for that support,  it also can help pump the crowd up during a game. 

“Not to mention the fact that the cheerleaders have cheered for the boy’s games automatically, and the girls have never been thought of till now. But I have noticed improvements towards the end of the season,” the source added.

After hearing multiple perspectives it’s clear that the girls would definitely appreciate receiving the same amount of support that anyone else receives in sports at school.  Ultimately, I am not sure why this is occurring,  but what I can tell you is that as a former cheerleader cheering at girls’ games is something that many of us on the team would’ve loved to do. The Imagine Prep administration tries its very hardest to provide the same amount of support to every individual. This is an issue that occurs at many schools and people are working together to help come up with solutions to make things a little more fair.   I believe at Imagine Prep there is no specific individual to blame.  I feel as if this is just seen as “normal” at schools but it’s not.  I and many are hopeful to see a change in this happen sooner than later.