Seahawk Nation in need of support

The Seahawk Staff

This is UNC Wilmington.

This isn’t Duke, NC State, Chapel Hill, or ECU.

This is UNCW, home of The Seahawks. And it’s time the student body starts supporting that sentiment.

No, the school does not have a football team, or nearly the same athletic budget as one of the aforementioned schools above.

But, do you know how UNCW may one day be able to afford a football team and all the necessary equipment and facilities that come with it? Are you aware of the process that goes into raising money for Seahawk athletic teams and the tiresome effort the athletic department puts forth into producing teams that us students can be proud of?

It starts, and ends, with the student body.

If you’re tired of not having a football team or watching our basketball team not meet your expectations, do something about it.

Write a petition, donate money, support your school through its trials and tribulations. Don’t parade around other schools’ colors, claiming them when you say “we.” That gets our athletic teams nowhere.

While UNCW may not be able to floor a football team now, there are more than enough reasons to show some pride in the Seahawks’ teams of today.

Did you know that our baseball team ranks consistently as one of the top programs in the CAA? In fact, the team won the regular-season conference title last year, on their way to producing eight players who earned all-conference honors, while Mark Scalf picked up his sixth Co-Coach-of-the-Year award, tying the conference record. Not to mention MLB draftees, Justin Livengood and Michael Bass, both chosen by the San Diego Padres in June’s draft.

Let us not forget about our men’s swimming & diving program that claimed their 12th straight conference championship last season. Unheard of success.

The worst part about the student body’s lack of support for the school’s athletic teams? It almost led to five programs being cut completely over the summer, including the men’s swimming & diving team.

Now, of course there were other factors that dealt directly with the proposed cuts; the student body’s lack of support was not the spearhead of the decision. But it was a part.

If we students do not support our athletic teams, then who will? If we, who walk down Chancellor’s each day with the Division I athletes who don UNCW colors when they compete for their respective clubs, do not value our team’s accomplishments while dealing with their faults, then what is the point?

If we won’t support UNCW athletics, no one will.

UNC Wilmington does not have a football team. And it will not have one while you attend here. If the school were to permit the beginning of a program, that is would take years to build before it would be ready to compete.

So deal with it.

But do not disassociate yourself with the Seahawk athletic teams entirely. Every team has its ups and downs, highs and lows, good seasons and bad seasons. The true fans are the ones that stick by their teams through thick and thin.

It was only in 2006 that our basketball team reached the NCAA tournament. And folks act like that was eons ago.

While the program has not been as successful as most would like in recent years, we as a student body owe it to them to stay loyal in our support.

Parading around campus in Carolina blue or Wolfpack red emits a vibe that we want no part of Seahawk athletics. That we do not support our teams.

And that’s just depressing.

No one is saying supporting a losing team is fun. No one is begging you to support if you are not into sports.

But show some pride in your school.

Be a part of Seahawk Nation.