Sports bring together communities and build relationships

BY BRENNA DEMPSEY

Executive Producer

Community and connections go hand-in-hand when it comes to sports.

When people go to watch a game, they end up surrounded by people who are there for the same reason. This allows people to find a common interest and connect with those around them while they have a good time and celebrate their favorite sporting event.

Hannah Fewkes, a freshman at Tarleton State University, grew up playing sports. She likes the connected feeling people get when they gather with other people for a game.

“Once you see everyone in there, we’re all in there for one purpose, and it just brings everyone from different majors and different sports together,” Fewkes said.

This is a sentiment that I am sure others can relate to because sports help to strengthen relationships we might already have.

“My family, we’ve all played soccer growing up, and my uncle especially, he was my coach for a long time, so it was kind of just like a part-of-the-family thing,” Fewkes said.

It can also help to build new relationships that might not have been a part of your life if it wasn’t for sports.

“It made me get involved in a way and then I started to enjoy what I was doing because of the people around me, and I got to see them every single day,” Fewkes said.

These friendships can last far into the future.

Taylor Ware fell in love with volleyball when she was little and has continued playing throughout the years.

“I made some of my best friends by playing volleyball, even here at Tarleton, I met some of my friends and some great people by playing,” Ware said.

Cason Green goes to the Tarleton recreation center to play basketball and volleyball with friends.

“There’s a big group of us that come nearly every day and just getting to interact and build connections with each other, I mean, it’s been cool to see just since I’ve been here since last semester,” Green said.

Green became interested in volleyball in high school and wanted to play when he could, whether that was a workout or just for fun.

“I ended up getting involved in playing volleyball with a bunch of people who I’m pretty good friends with now,” Green said.

Even if they did not like sports, these are the feelings that would come to heart.

“I’d probably be a little offended ‘cause Tarleton is now a part of me. Like, this is my new home, so I’d kind of be offended, and I’d probably defend us,” Fewkes said. “It gives you team spirit and a sense of community, like that’s my community, and you’re not going to diss it.”

Growing alongside Tarleton makes it feel like a part of who we are, so insults to that progress can stir up feelings.

“I would kind of feel offended because it’s our school, and I mean Tarleton has changed a lot over the last 10 years, like growing and playing bigger schools, and it’s a lot different than playing a smaller school, even at a collegiate level,” Green said.

Texans bleed purple, and sports are no different.

“I would take it personally, I mean Tarleton is the best—the best in everything—whether it’s sports or not. I mean, this is my school,” Ware said.

From sports clubs, intermurals or NCAA sanctioned, sports on the Tarleton campus unite the students in different ways. Maybe it’s from finding someon that has played the same sport as you since you were little, maybe you try something new and find another place at the school or maybe it’s meeting someone in the cncession stand line.

Whatever it may be, sports are just another thing to make Tarleton feel like a community; like a home.