WMS students are now required to fill out a google form to attend home games. This rule has been officially set this basketball season and there are a lot of mixed opinions going around the school. 

There has been much speculation but no public answer, which leaves students puzzled.  WMS 8th-grade student, Angelina Rodriguez said she believes that the attendance limitation was placed because of “the way everyone was acting.” She also stated that she thinks they’re trying to make basketball games safer with this new rule.

WMS 7th-grade student, Sarina James, said that she believes this rule was placed because of “all the kids from other schools drawing on bathroom stalls and fooling around.” Sarina also made it clear that she does believe the rule is necessary for safety and behavior reasons. 

WMS 6th-grade student, Angelina Summers said she assumes that this rule was set “for safety reasons and to make sure you attend the school and you’re not a stranger.” She explained that she does not think the rule was necessary because “it doesn’t affect anything.”

The truth to everyone’s question has finally been revealed. WMS principal, Dr. Lott, explained that there are many reasons behind the rule, “We only have 157 seats. During the first game when this rule didn’t exist, there were parents, students, and spectators standing up and blocking all of our fire exits because there wasn’t any room on the bleachers.” 

She went into detail on the main reason being safety concerns, “Our 1st game had no security, so we upped our site management and there is now security at every game.” 

Dr. Lott explained how part of the reason the rule was placed is that before, students were not showing sportsmanship and misbehaving, “The other part of the change is you must behave throughout the school day so with that new rule; it’s definitely affected student’s behaviors.” 

The assumptions as to why the rule was placed were pretty much on the right track. However, WMS basketball players also have their own opinions on this rule. 

WMS basketball player, Anjele Alston said, “I feel like the limit of people that go is a bad thing and a good thing because my team doesn’t get as nervous when it’s a small crowd of people, but also, some players want to play in front of a big crowd with all their friends and family there.” 

WMS girl’s team basketball coach, Mrs. Kashak, had a similar opinion to Alston “For the first game, it did benefit my team because the girls were very nervous.” 

Mrs. Kashak said that she wishes there was a way that all students could come to games but understands the circumstances. 

WMS boy’s team basketball coach, Mr. Salinas said he believes that sportsmanship is important and that he also believes all students should be able to go. He goes on to express how he believes that the attendance limitation doesn’t really affect the way his team plays. “…I don’t think it affects us, it affects the other team more and shows them that we have a big crowd of supporters which could intimidate them.” 

WMS basketball player, Thomas Oatman said, “The changes are needed because of the way some of us were behaving.”