Personally, I’m not an athletic person. My siblings played sports, but I’ve never been involved in sports aside from the year or two of soccer that I played when I was roughly ten years old. For the majority of my Cairn “career.” I have avoided sports games and matches, preferring to spend my time watching Netflix, doing homework, or hanging out with my friends. However, after spending a semester writing athletics articles for The Scroll, I realize what a grievous mistake I’ve made. Sports are an essential part of life as you learn and grow, especially in the crucial years of college. I was never interested in games before, but now I see just how beneficial it is to go to them even if I’m “not a sports person.” After interviewing several athletes over the last semester, I’ll break down the main reasons why I believe that even non-athletes should attend athletic games and matches.

1. It Builds Community – This is probably the most obvious, but it’s still important. There’s nothing that brings a group of people together like cheering for a team, especially if that team includes a friend or fellow classmate. Getting together for a common goal builds community and bonds, which is crucial for a peaceful co-existence as we spend four years living together in this Cairn world.
2. You Learn Teamwork – Even if you aren’t participating in the game, watching the players still helps you learn how teamwork happens. Especially if you’re observing from the stands, you can see how teammates communicate with each other through words and body language to interact and pull off plays. There is a lot that can be learned from how a team interacts on the field or the court, and that knowledge can be applied to every-day life or class life. Is there one player who is hogging the ball or all the attention, or are they all sharing the responsibility equally? Is there one person in your group project who is taking over most of the presentation, or do you all have a section that you are in charge of? These observations on the teamplay can help your own “teamwork” when it comes to group projects or even working in groups for a job.
3. It Gets You Out of Your Room – If you’re like me, you spend a lot of time in your room, doing homework or even just relaxing and watching Netflix. Going to a sports match will get you out of your room and into an area that you don’t often spend time in. It’s not your room, it’s not a classroom, and it’s not the library. It’s a new environment in a way: a fresh change of scenery. We all need these changes in scenery to refresh our minds and our hearts. When you go somewhere new, or somewhere you don’t spend a lot of time, it reinvigorates you.
4. It Helps You Come Alive – Even if you don’t care about sports, you know that you’ll get invested in the game. With the Super Bowl just past, that is a prime example of investing in a game; those who don’t normally watch a single game will come together for the Super Bowl, and actually end up jumping up and down at a touchdown, yelling at the ref, or gasping at rough tackles. God made us to be empathetic beings. Our brains are wired to connect with what we see. Therefore, when we go to a soccer game, basketball game or a volleyball match, we connect with the players. We tense up when the clock is running down and we’re one point behind, we gasp when a smooth play snatches the ball away, we clench our fists when one of our players gets knocked down. Sports, even if you don’t care for them normally, will help you come alive and experience something outside of your daily routine.

While there are more reasons to attend sports games and matches, these are the main four that stood out to me. These experiences are crucial to your learning and growth as a Christian in the education society. At Cairn, we are here to learn, to grow, and to step outside of the regular boundaries of life. We are literally called to walk a different path. So even if you aren’t into sports, let your different path start with a walk to the gymnasium. Game days and times can be found on the calendar page at cairn.edu, and it will be well worth your time to build community, learn teamwork, enjoy a new environment, and come alive. God created sports just like He created art, music, writing, and other forms of expression. I challenge you, Cairnites, to start supporting your fellow friends in their athletic endeavours and to attend the games yourself. Participating, even just as a part of the crowd, will truly change your life.
Bonus: There’s also a lot of fun you can have with watching sports. Check out this Bad Lip Reading for the NFL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtIPmVN6zdc