When students go to a sporting event, there are certain things they notice right away.
The banners hanging around the stadium which signify the past teams’ victories and national titles.
Or students may notice some of the fans are painted head to toe in their team’s colors, screaming their head off at the referee when a bad call is made.
These fans make up The RedZone. The RedZone is the student-run and student driven fan section at many USI sporting events.
“One of our main goals for this year is to establish a ‘controlled chaos’ and get more student involvement at competitions,” sophomore RedZone President Samatha Ray said.
All of the coaching staff agree the more support USI players have during their games, the better they perform because they can feel the love from the crowd.
“We want to develop an athlete-student bond,” Ray said. “We want our players to know that we support them in all that they do.”
Molly Voyles, freshman, said she looks forward to basketball games along with the other sporting events because she has participated in the end zone activities at her high school.
One main goal for The RedZone is to have an official student section at all USI games in order to bring the whole student body together.
“It’s hard to watch a sport you don’t understand, but the athletes appreciate the support,” Voyles said.
Returning members junior Ben Hirschauer and senior Dylan Melling, former RedZone president, also want to see more student involvement this year at sporting events.
“We need to take pride in our university and show our athletes that we support them,” Hirschauer said.
“The RedZone is important because student athletes are great and you develop a relationship with them by providing a support system for them,” Melling said. “Activities here at USI unite everyone, creating a community atmosphere, which is why USI students and athletes are unique.”
The RedZone currently has about 25 active members, but they always want to grow.
“It is hard to be involved at USI in athletics because a lot of students are commuters, are parents or they don’t have the time to participate because they have scholarships or jobs on the line,” Hirschauer said. “But if you have the time you should come out and join RedZone because it is a lot of fun to get the crowd pumped up at a game.”
The RedZone meets every Wednesday in the Business and Engineering room 003 at 3:30 p.m. The RedZone will host Midnight Madness in October to kick off the men’s basketball season, and they want as much student input as they can get.
“There are many benefits to being a part of RedZone that you wouldn’t expect,” Melling said. “I hope to see Samantha put her own twist and let her creativity show.”
