Fists become waving hands, voices become screaming fans, and faces create an artist’s masterpiece in this arena. My voice is now gone, my legs are very tired, but my heart is extremely happy. Excited, we basically spring out of the stands. Turning around, students hug everyone they see, regardless if they know each other or not. The Bingham Miners basketball team just beat the Copper Hills Grizzlies in the very stressful state championship. As we watch the trophy awarded and the net cut down, my friends and I turn to leave. My heart suddenly drops when I look to see the opposing team getting awarded the second place state championship trophy, and instead of clapping and cheering, our student section has turned their backs. At this point, I am at the top of the arena, as I see the student section still turned away. This isn’t right.

Bingham is known for our hardworking athletes and our great performances in athletics. However, is Bingham known for other things as well? As Student Body President, I thought it was my duty to find out what our reputation was, no matter how harsh. I wanted to see how other schools saw our student section. The response I got was more eye-opening than I originally thought it would be.

Brian Pham, the Riverton Student Body President said, “Bingham has a reputation of being really cocky in their sports.”

Nathan Tracy, the Herriman Student Body President said, “Bingham has a reputation of bad sportsmanship but it’s only for the sports they dominate at!”

This urged me to look further. What was the origin of this cockiness and unsportsmanlike conduct? As I researched, I found that our biggest problems during games lie within our cheers. With this information, I asked the student body presidents at our rival schools what their perspective was one more time.

“There are a few cheers that are pretty mean, like, ‘If you are losing and you know it, clap your hands.’” Pham said. It was actually really surprising when I found out it was offensive. When Bingham students start this cheer, we think it’s funny; that’s why we do it.

Sina Green, the West Jordan Student Body President said, “I really dislike the scoreboard cheer, and calls that discourage the other team rather than encouraging their own.”

Likewise, Stephen Hansen, the Lone Peak Student Body President said, “One of the cheers I really don’t like is ‘Hey. Hey you. Yeah, you. You know we’re better than you.’”

The cheers the student body start have a huge influence on our sportsmanship and reputation.

We, as a student body,  must stop chanting negative cheers and follow the cheerleader’s positivity. They may be funny in the student section, but the opposing team gets offended. We need to encourage our own team, rather than discourage the opposing team. Pham, when asked how Bingham can improve their sportsmanship said, “Encourage good sportsmanship and positive attitudes. Don’t encourage beef between teams and offensive chants.”

It is truly up to each of us individually to fix our reputation. One way we can do this is by helping pick up trash while we are at an away game. Stephen Hansen said, “I remember last year after the football game here at Lone Peak, a bunch of your [students] came over to our side and helped us pick up trash. They had great sportsmanship; they were kind and didn’t say anything unnecessary about our school.”

It is just the little things that will fix our reputation. If we commit to being a kind, sportsmanlike student section by only yelling cheers that uplift our team, and helping out the opposing team after games, we will continue to be known for our great athleticism, but also for our kind sportsmanship.