In an instant, things started to depart  at Solon. No Friday night lights, no sports, nothing. 2020 has been a difficult year to say the least. With sports being unlikely from March up until early July, things had become very complicated for the school’s athletes. But now with the return of sports, things seem to be back on track for Solon High School. 

Due to social distancing the fans in the stands will be limited so it makes one wonder what impact that will have on a sport like football as it is in season right now. As a great deal of people like to watch football to be entertained and have a good time watching their team under the Friday night lights, could this change really affect teams as they play their games or the band and the cheerleaders that play a role in said entertainment?

Junior band member Jeremiah Lockett voiced his input on how the limited crowd has affected him.

“It kind of does affect me just because no one is really there to entertain in the stands, so it makes me perform somewhat worse,” Lockett said. “But I push through it and I do good”. 

However, Lockett goes on to explain that the band as a whole tries to support the players by “getting them hype from our music.”

When talking about the main event, the actual game itself, senior varsity football player Lavelle McKnight also feels that not having the usual packed crowd has definitely hit hard. When it comes to having that added energy in the audience that he and the football team could use during the game, it would considerably affect them as a whole.

“Yes, like heavily… it just feels like nobody’s there,” McKnight said. 

Following what he said, other than support from the audience, the band and the cheerleaders play a major role in boosting morale as “they really do have a huge effect on us because they get us all hyped and we kinda feel like things are back to normal,” he said.

But it’s best to be optimistic in these situations. Sophomore J.V. SHS cheerleader Kimberly Britt feels that her and her cheer squad are there to be supportive at all times.

“We are there to encourage the boys. No matter how we feel, whether we’re losing or winning, our job is to be the spirit that the boys may not have or to the few people in the stands.” Their energy isn’t going to change as their main goal is to just contribute to the boys’ confidence from the beginning until the end. 

Britt continued on to express how she felt about the small crowd saying that it doesn’t really affect her and the girls.

“Being on freshman last year we barely had a crowd so we’re used to it…us girls know how to uplift each other. If we had two people in the crowd we’d know how to make it fun,” Britt said.