Post date: Jan 18, 2017 4:10:03 PM
The Jungle Article
Sienna Hicks-11 The Jungle is the Kirksville High School student section at basketball games and is known for its crazy chants, amazing participation, and fun themes. There are approximately 80-100 students in The Jungle, depending on the night and the opponent. The majority of students who show up are juniors and seniors. However, it is not unusual to see students from all the classes represented.
The Jungle is a great way for the students to get involved and support our school. “It's awesome to dress up and go cheer on the teams and be together with other students,” Ethan Gooch-11 said.
It is a great way to get together and be yourself while having fun watching the game and cheering on the tigers.
All the decisions for the themes of the student section are made by an anonymous group of students. “Me and the fellow people of The Jungle choose the themes,” Gooch stated. Then they either tell other students or post on social media outlets such as Twitter and Instagram.
The three most common themes are black out, pink out, and orange out. “They usually are something that people can easily participate in or serve a purpose such as breast cancer awareness, like ‘pink out,’” Gooch said. Last Saturday was supposed to be the pink out game, but it has been rescheduled for January 30.
Even though they try to show good sportsmanship, sometimes the cheers can be taken too far. As a whole, the student section tries to be positive but also have an effect on the game. “We do our best to cheer positively but when it comes to being loud and annoying we take it on as our job to impact the the game and swing the advantage to our team”, Ethan said.
Even though it is their job to cheer on the team they must rein in some of the chants and cheers because they are there to represent the school. The most important part about being a great student section is showing good sportsmanship. At the next game, keep in mind that it is good to cheer on your team but also show respect to the other team.