Going to games and cheering on your school is something special. Sports have a way of uniting people, greater than any other force I’ve seen. People from all walks of life can put everything they don’t have in common aside and cheer for the home team. Of course, that doesn’t work for the away team’s fans who make the trip. But, for that small moment, everything else seems to fade into the background.

Sports give students a chance to get away from the books and go out with fellow students and get to know new people. Sports are also a good way to let loose. Screaming at the top of your lungs at a referee or cheering for a touchdown is a sense of relief. You can’t get up and cheer because you are excited that you are doing so well on a final exam — unless you want to get kicked out of the testing center. The best part is games are free for students with an ID card. Some even let you get two tickets, so it is also a good date idea.

Many different sports go on during fall semester, so there are a lot of opportunities to support Wildcat teams. The athletes are your classmates, who need fans to come to games to give them that home-field advantage.

I joined The Signpost in January as a sports reporter. I am ashamed to admit that, before I took the job, I never attended any sporting events on campus. I hadn’t been to a campus game since the early 2000s, when I came with my dad and uncle. We used to go to football games together when I was younger.

When I first started at the newspaper, I was given what many I talked to deemed the job that nobody really wanted: I was assigned to cover the women’s basketball team. Being unaware of anything they had done, I started looking at old articles to find out what all the fuss was about. They definitely were having a rough patch, having not won a game since the second game of the previous season.

I went into the first game not knowing what to expect. When the buzzer sounded to finish the first half, the team was down 10, but something surprised me in the second half. They kept playing. Even though they fell further and further behind, they kept playing. It really showed true pride in their sport and who they represented.

As I continued to cover the team, I was always impressed about how they handled everything with pride in themselves and their team. I actually began to be excited to watch the team. As the year progressed, the young team continued to improve, having many close games that slipped away in the final minutes, even the final seconds. I was proud to cheer for a team that played so hard to represent the color they had on.

This experience taught me something. It taught me how to have school pride. It taught me how to be a Wildcat.

So, all you new and returning students, I encourage you to take advantage of all the opportunities that Weber State University has to offer from its athletic programs. I especially encourage you to go to those events that may not get as much support as the big sports like football and men’s basketball.

As you take advantage of these opportunities, like I recently started doing, you will find yourselves with even more school spirit, and then you cannot just say that you are a student at Weber State, but a Wildcat who bleeds purple. Hope to see you at the game.