As the football team warms up under Friday Night Lights and packed stands at Viking Stadium, junior cross country runner Ethan Varma laces up his Vaporflys as he nervously waits for the gun to go off at the Sunnyvale Baylands cross country course. His 5k race draws no cheerleaders and no roaring crowd – just the sound of labored breathing and a few teammates cheering him on as he sprints the final stretch of the brutal course.
For athletes like Varma, the lack of recognition is nothing new. Cross country, rowing, swimming, golf, badminton and others are often dismissed as “lame” compared to more popular sports such as football and basketball.
As The Guardian notes,“Spectator sport is excruciatingly boring — like reality TV without the plotline.”
Many people find certain sports dull simply because they don’t have the drama or excitement of popular ones. But for those competing, the sport is just as intense and time consuming.
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“I know a lot of people don’t like to run, but I don’t really care what other people think about my sport,” Varma said. “I don’t think it really affects my motivation because my motivation comes from within.”
Senior rower Dorin Flynn also said her motivation comes from seeing her own progress.
“I chose rowing because my dad did it,” Flynn said. “So I started it, and I think it’s really fun to push yourself and see how hard you can go.”
Despite the lack of support, Varma said his motivation stems from the community around him.
“My freshman year, I met a lot of new people, and those people kind of motivated me to stick with the sport and push harder,” Varma said.
Varma also said misconceptions about cross country add to its reputation.
“A lot of people think that we just torture ourselves in our sport and don’t have any fun,” Varma said. “But there are a lot of moments on easy runs with my friends when I have a lot of fun (in) my sport, and there are days where I really enjoy practices.”
Varma said inherent differences in the level of entertainment of each sport causes some to be less watched.
“I wouldn’t say cross country is a very entertaining sport, because there are more aspects in a game of football and basketball,” Varma said. “But with a cross country race, it’s just people running a three-mile course.”
In addition, Senior badminton player Harrison Lan said the popularity of certain sports can vary by country.
“If you look at Asia, badminton is much more popular than basketball and football,” Lan said. “It’s just not as popular here.
Lan also said having more events surrounding games makes them more exciting to watch.
“(Football and basketball) are definitely more exciting because there’s mascots, teams and live broadcasting, and there are big events throughout the year which are more known than badminton,” Lan said.
Although there’s not student spirit events centered on cross country, Varma said if people actually went to a cross country meet, they would be surprised at how much attention it gets within the sports community.
“I don’t think people expect that at some of the big meets, there are thousands of people,” Varma said.
Lan said improvements can be made in the future to reflect the true potential of badminton as a sport.
“I wish (the badminton) Instagram posted more. For football’s (Instagram) there’s announcements about (which game to show up to and what to wear)… it would be good to have more media presence,” Lan said. “(Badminton) is getting more popular because now it’s a cut sport, it had no cuts in all past years.”
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