While football at “The Carter” fills the fall and basketball at the RBC Center fills the winter, there are literally thousands of other student athletes that are neglected. They go out and sacrifice their time and their bodies in front of crowds that usually top out at about 300 people, and fight the good fight for the Wolfpack. Though, like the football and basketball players, they may not always be successful they go out and give 110 percent, they deserve the same, if not more, support from the student body that football and basketball get.

Sure the Student Wolfpack Club does a great thing by requiring members to attend non-revenue sporting events to get points for the football and basketball games, but with only 2,400 members, it is a small population of State students. The Student Wolfpack Club only offers points for a limited number of events in a given season. Students should want to go and be a fan at these “other” sports. It is time for the student body to come out in force and drop the “other” from in front of these sports. We should consistently have capacity crowds at Reynolds Coliseum, the N.C. State Soccer Stadium, Doak Field, and Derr Track. 

Working for the sports staff of Technician this year has really opened my eyes to some of amazing things the athletes of N.C. State do. This past weekend was big for non-revenue sports. Two national championships in one day — in case you didn’t read the paper Monday. That is huge for our programs. Watching Darrion Caldwell wrestle in Reynolds Coliseum is like nothing else. The electricity he brings to the mat is uncontested.

Also this weekend, the gymnastics team took first in its league for the fourth time in Reynolds Coliseum. The gymnasts won on the last rotation after the Wolfpack had an outstanding showing on bars and had to sit and wait as West Virginia and North Carolina, the gymnastics team’s two biggest rivals, competed for the victory. You could feel the tension in the arena as West Virginia performed phenomenal routine after phenomenal routine and the Wolfpack gymnasts sat waiting, counting up the scores. The jubilation on the faces of the gymnasts after they found out they had won was priceless.

These experiences would be augmented for the better if even more students came out to enjoy them. As more and more students come to enjoy these events, the better these events become. N.C. State has the opportunity to be great at these non-revenue sports, but it all starts with attention. That attention must first be brought from the students.

Other teams should dread coming to N.C. State to compete because of the home field advantage the Pack draws from its students. Students get into all of the non-revenue sports for free by flashing their IDs at the gate so there is no excuse for not attending. Students clearly make a difference at these non-revenue sports events.

So, bottom line, football and basketball are over. Show up and support the other student athletes as they lay it all on the line for the Red and White. Baseball, softball, and gymnastics, just to name a few, have events coming up on campus. Go out, wear red, be loud, be proud and cheer for the Wolfpack.