As the winter season comes to a close, Aragon athletics is testing a new policy that will be kicked off in the following months. The Event of the Week policy will track students’ attendance at a chosen event of the week and randomly reward students with various prizes.
In February, winter sports ended their regular seasons with Senior Nights. In order to gather large crowds, athletic director Steve Sell, Principal Valerie Arbizu, activities director Heather Stretch and various members of the leadership team have worked together to set up incentives for attendance.
The goal of this initiative was to give the seniors a memorable last home games at Aragon.
“We could just give all of our seniors a nice send off for their sports,” said senior leadership member Jake Schneider. “It’s always nice to have people at your games, cheering you on and having a great atmosphere for their final home games.”
While discussing these senior games, the plan grew into something larger.
“Mr. Sell and I wanted to get more students to come to some of the senior athletic events this season,” Arbizu said. “And then it kind of exploded from there into ‘what does this look like for the next season, not just for athletics, [but] for all of our events?’”
Students would be rewarded with various prizes.
“The prizes are going to be really goofy,” Arbizu said. “I designed a little sticker that says ‘Super Dons’ on a holographic background. It says … ‘Winter 2023’ and it’s in senior colors … and then we’ll just find a couple kids who come to a few events and give them a bigger prize like a T-shirt.”
The Event of the Week policy was developed in order to have more equal attendance at all events.
“There’s always concern that … basketball and football are the [main] things that people talk about,” Arbizu said. “We have a lot of kids on a lot of different playing fields, not just on the basketball court or football field … and you want your friends to come out and cheer for you as well.”
Sports games aren’t the only events that will be included in the Event of the Week. Musicals, plays and concerts will also be highlighted.
“This is all about engagement and showing spirit and supporting each other and coming out and just having a good time cheering each other on positively,” Arbizu said. “And we want to include stuff like badminton … and swim meets. We want kids to get out of their comfort zone and see what else is out there.”
“There’s always concern that … basketball and football are the [main] things that people talk about”
Athletes in less recognized sports such as badminton notice the unequal support at sporting events.
“I don’t know if any [students] attend [badminton games],” said sophomore varsity badminton player Theon Gardiner. “[It bothers me] a bit. I’ve asked my friends to come watch my games, but they seem hesitant because not many people ever watch those sports.”
Gardiner is enthusiastic about the Event of the Week policy and the prospect of student support at badminton games.
“I think that [policy will] be great,” Gardiner said. “Not many people really know too much about badminton and they kind of assume it’s an unathletic sport. But if you actually watch the games, it’s pretty interesting to see because it’s a lot harder than you think.”
Moving forward, Event of the Week intends to encourage students to boost student participation and encourage students to support their fellow Dons.
