Whether it is jerseys on students’ backs or a favorite sports team flag hung in the classroom, sports merchandise is a common trend seen on campus. For students, fandoms can range from the love for a sport or for specific teams. At SCHS, hometown teams such as the San Francisco 49ers and the Golden State Warriors are among many students’ favorites, but teams around the country and globe are also in the picture.
Campus football as well as the National Football League in particular is involved in many conversations throughout campus. Despite the surrounding California football community, senior Ryan Trujillo supports the Dallas Cowboys due to his family’s influence.
“My dad’s side of the family is from New Mexico, which they don’t really have much of a sports team there – college sports – but that’s about it,” Trujillo said. “So a lot of them end up defaulting to the Cowboys.”
Similar to Trujillo, because of his upbringing in Boston, junior Aadi Manchanda supports the National Basketball Association’s Boston Celtics.
“I’m primarily just a Celtics fan because I was born in Boston. It’s the team I grew up with,” Manchanda said. “I think just growing up around a family that also watched those sports, it’s your environment that dictates your habits and your behaviors, right?”
Both Trujillo and Manchanda agree that supporting an out-of-state team breeds conversations with peers. Both students have their own experiences of playful quips and remarks with friends on an opposing side of a football or basketball game.
“It’s not been in a harmful way or anything. It’s just like friendly bantering,” Trujillo said. “But there aren’t that many people who are also Cowboys fans here, so it kind of singles me out.”
Manchanda appreciates the differences between friends, feeling as though it provides diversity.
“I think it’s like having a diverse friend group. The rivalry can make it more fun, right?” Manchanda said. “I look forward to that upcoming game where your guys’ teams face off against each other, and I feel like, if everybody likes the same team, then it’s nice to share common feelings, but also the rivalry is nice.”
Sports fandoms are not just related to supporting a major sports team or popular sports favored around campus but also supporting athletics that may be less common in the area. Cycling, while a popular sport in Europe, does not have the same audience in the U.S.
Social science teacher Emily Haven supports cycling and other two-wheel sports, an interest promoted by her husband.
“As a family, we tend to watch a lot of cycling races, cyclocross and road cycling and mountain biking,” Haven said. “My husband is an avid cyclist and also used to work for specialists, but he loves cycling. I’ve kind of gotten on board because I like the history of bicycles and women’s rights, and that just kind of took me down a rabbit hole.”
Interest in sports that are seen as non-traditional in the U.S. is popular among many teachers. Science teacher Sara Carvalho has watched soccer since she was a kid, hoping to keep the sport running in her family.
“My family is from El Salvador, which is a very soccer heavy country, and my dad still plays soccer. He’s like 65, and he still plays soccer,” Carvalho said. “The interest came from hanging out with my dad. I remember watching World Cups when I was a kid.”
Carvalho’s passion for soccer from her childhood to now has led to her own interest as well as her daughters’ enjoyment of the women’s soccer club Bay Area FC.
“My daughter is eight years old, and she plays competitive soccer. The big drive was I could take her to see a professional soccer team, and it gives her something to see and say, ‘I could do that,’” Carvhalo said. “If you ask her right now, she’ll say, I’m going to be a professional soccer player.’”
With the many factors that motivate one’s sports fandoms, it is apparent that not everyone in the same city will love the same team, or the same sport.
“I think one of the reasons that sports fandom is so special is because it is part of your identity, and it is one of the few identities that you have complete choice over,” Haven said. “You can choose the people that you celebrate with, how you celebrate, who you grieve with.”