Those in the stands
January 31, 2020
They move forward as though they are in slow motion, focusing intensely on their movements. They eye their goal up ahead and push a little harder, moving their arms and
legs in perfect synchronization, falling back on all their many hours of practice. They feel a sense of excitement, as they are now only mere moments from the end. It has all come down to this, theymake a final movement and it’s finished. They’ve done it, they’ve made the goal, finished the race,scored the touchdown, won the set,finished the performance, bowled that final strike. The people aroundthem cheer and shout, lifting the person or team up, letting themknow they’ve done a good job.
In these situations, it’s easy toforget the important role those in the stands or those on the sidelines play. The motivation and energy that fans provide is often undervalued.Imagine a field, course, stage ormeet without all those people that come to watch. It would be sort of like a ghost town, with a feeling that practically sucks the energy out of the air. Now imagine the sameplace with just a few people in thecrowd. Many people think these two situations would be very similar,but they’re actually worlds apart.
You see, many people make the assumption that the energy cheering brings can only come from a large crowd, preferably one that is chanting at the top of their lungs. However, in my experience, just knowing that someone is there gives me that little bit of extra energy, which could be the difference between winning and losing in the end.
Some people may say theydon’t perform or play a sport, so this doesn’t apply to them, but that’s not true because cheering doesn’t just happen on the field orstage. Cheering also occurs duringmoments in people’s lives, wherethey get that little bit of extra encouragement from someone else. This can be something assimple as just “good job” or “keep it up,” but no matter what it is, it’s still important to acknowledgethe support it provides.
So, let’s all just try to rememberthose who cheer for us, because inthe end, those in the stands play justas big of a role as those who perform.
