By Arianna Nunez

School spirit is one of the most important aspects of college life, and much of that spirit stems from a university’s athletic program. Adelphi University is a Division II sports school, with 23 varsity sports–11 mens and 12 womens teams–ranging from basketball to swimming and diving. Adelphi University prides itself on its dedication to school spirit, but, unfortunately, many athletes find attendance at sporting events to be lacking. 

According to Katie Brokes, a senior and libero on Adelphi’s women’s volleyball team, the last time she saw the stands full at a volleyball game was back in 2023. Brokes loves the idea of having a huge crowd at volleyball games. “It’d be really meaningful to have other people’s support and with that, show their school pride and meet each other at these games the way they would at a bigger school.”

Adelphi is well known for its lacrosse teams, picking up a bit of an audience throughout the season. Alexis Provenz, a player on Adelphi’s women’s lacrosse team and graduate student appreciates when fans are present. She said, “I’d say that if there’s more students cheering for us that’s definitely helpful in motivating us. It’s nice to see new faces in the bleachers, too.” 

Adelphi University is a commuter-based school, with over 80% of its student body living off-campus. A large portion of the students who commute to school have found that they either don’t know about the games, or they just aren’t interested in staying around for them.

“I mean, if I’m being honest, I probably wouldn’t go out of my way during my free time just to go watch something,” said Maheen Naqvi, a senior who commutes.

She added, “I’ll go to campus. I’ll go to my classes. I’ll go to the library. I’ll go do some work, and then after that, it’s just me time. It’s time to go home and get some rest.” 

Patrick Burke, a player on the mens basketball team, explained that this lack of attendance can impact players’ performances. “When there’s more students, there’s definitely a higher environment,” said Burke. 

He wishes for more fan engagement. “Student interest is not where it needs to be,” he said. 

“I think it’s more enjoyable when there’s more fans. It’s the fans who enjoy it more, as well as the players,” he added.

Unfortunately, most students aren’t aware when Adelphi sporting events are taking place, thus leaving our sports teams with stands that are half empty or barely even filled. 

For instance, Danielle Sanders, a junior nursing major who lives on-campus said, “I’m just too busy and I feel like I never really know when they’re happening. Like, I know my friends go a lot, but I never hear about it. I don’t know why.” 

Yet multiple athletes on Adelphi sports teams expressed how much they’d appreciate it if more students attended games.

Many students who mentioned that their lack of attendance is due to their lack of knowledge said that they’d attend more games if they were properly promoted. 

According to Adelphi University’s Coordinator for Athletics, Engagement and Special Events John Curto, Adelphi Athletics employs three strategies to promote their scheduled games: social media, eCampus and printed flyers displayed around campus. 

Curto said Adelphi posts the majority of its sporting events on Instagram (@aupanthers) where the details of the times and locations of games are noted. For eCampus specifically, he said, “I know students are on that pretty much every day for their coursework, so that’s a pretty good touchpoint there.”

Even with these efforts, senior art history major Alexus Heiserman said that she only notices social media posts announcing that a team that just finished playing won, but never prior to the games starting. “I would go to some of the games if they happened during the day,” she said.

Other students are simply not interested. Senior health sciences major Gurpreet Kaur said, “I don’t really know about sports and also, because I don’t know about sports I don’t really care about the events.” 

Some students wish there were added incentives. Danielle Sanders likes the T-shirt launchers. She said, “If they have any free stuff, you know? Where they do those things with the T-shirts.”

According to Curto, finding the details about the times and locations of Adelphi’s sporting events is fairly easy. Follow @aupanthers on Instagram, keep an eye out for eCampus banners, check your emails and keep your eyes out for posters and flyers around campus.