Sports teams desperate for attention

On any given day at Malcolm X Plaza, various organizations and vendors can be seen and heard vying for your attention.

Among the student groups, credit card solicitors and pepper spray dealers, don't be surprised to find members of SF States' sports teams handing out fliers trying to encourage those who normally do not attend their home games to come check out the games.

"We just want support," said junior Kris Larsen, a player representative of the Student Athletic Advisory Board for volleyball. "We want people to come cheer us on and see what we're all about."

But attention and support are a little hard to come by for Gator sports these days.

"We're really a commuter school," said Heather Tyrrell, recreation and intramural sports director at SF State. "People don't stay and hang out. Compared to other schools, this campus is not as focused on athletics."

Seeing the need to finally address the issue of fan apathy, Athletic Director Betsy Alden assigned Randi Lydum at the beginning of the semester to head a marketing program to promote sporting events on campus. Also recruited to help was George Wunder, a second-year assistant basketball coach.

According to Lydum, who is the coach for the cross country and women's track and field teams and also an assistant athletic director, the department has never handled any organized promotions for the sports programs. Instead, the responsibilities were always placed on the individual coaches to garner interest for their teams.

"We had no publicity," Lydum said. "In this city, there are so many other things going on. A lot of people in the past did not even know we had different events going on."

Still in its planning stages, the long-term strategy is aimed at community outreach. Wunder said the first step is to target students who live on campus by coordinating efforts with campus housing officials to get those residents to walk across campus for home games.

When the program with student housing gets rolling, Wunder says he hopes to move on to getting many of the student organizations involved. Eventually, the goal is to develop interest from the off-campus community and generate support from the general public.

"The biggest thing to effect change is to get the word out and to stimulate interest," Wunder said. "I see the spirit out there to help and hope to capitalize on it. Once people come, they'll like what they see and come back."

What has been done so far includes a youth soccer match played recently during halftime of a women's soccer game and serving free pizzas at the volleyball games.

Future promotions in the works include putting together a calendar of athletic events to be given to people who attend home games.

All this is being done to increase the modest attendance numbers caused by a lack of exposure.

"I've been meaning to come to one (of the games)," said Q. Jones, 20, a cultural anthropology major. "But I just don't know when they are (held)."

A comparison of attendance between SF State and four other Division II Northern California Athletic Conference schools for last season's men's basketball average home crowd goes as follows: UC-Davis, 2,122; Humboldt State, 856; SF State, 785; Sonoma State, estimated at 500 and CSU Hayward, 185.

As expected, the rural campuses of UC-Davis and Humboldt State drew more than the urban schools. SF State faired better than Sonoma and Hayward, but it should be noted that the Main Gym has the capacity to seat 2,000 spectators.

A look at this season's volleyball numbers at SF State -- with a winning Gator team on the court -- shows an average attendance of 169 for six home games.

"It's fun to watch a sport and support the teams," Jones said. "If more people come, it would be more fun, it could be like a social event."

And the support of a larger audience makes a difference to the home team.

"Part of the personality and the character of an athlete is to play to the crowd," said Tyrrell, who has played and coached volleyball at SF State.

"I've seen the positive effects that a full gym has on a team," Wunder said. "Having a partisan crowd on their side definitely energizes a team."

What could be harder to crack is the commuter school syndrome -- a term used for the majority of students who live off campus and aren't involved with any activities outside of class time -- that has taken hold of the campus sports scene, where time outside of school is precious and everybody is on the run.

"I haven't been to a game myself," said Rasheed Abdullah, 19, an accounting major. "I live in the East Bay and just want to get home usually."

To other students, getting through school is only thing on their mind.

"I'm not interested (in sports)," said Ron Tripp, 30, a psychology major. "I just want to get my degree and go."

And that's the reality of SF State, an urban campus that offers many different options to many different people, with one of those available options being an under-utilized Gator sports program.

"We want you to come, it makes a big difference," Wunder said. "When you do come, we want you to know it's greatly appreciated."

[ Golden Gater Online October 22, 1996 ]

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