In the United States, sports like football, baseball, and basketball are the center of our attention.

TV sports channels and talk radio tend to revolve around the achievements of the New England Patriots or the number of shots Stephen Curry got in at last night’s game. With all this excitement directed at these sports, however, we ignore the other athletes that work just at hard in a sport that don’t always get the credit they deserve.

Activities such as soccer, golf, bowling and volleyball are often considered an acquired taste; only those who actually enjoy playing the sport will enjoy supporting it. Football and baseball on the other hand is acceptable to watch even if you don’t personally partake in it because of its long history in our country. These sports are more ingrained into our culture than others.

Junior Jared Avalos, a soccer player, also sees this trend of popularity with “older” sports, but has hope that this will change.

“I feel like some are underappreciated because [some sports] are newer to our culture, I guess,” Avalos said. “Football is kind of more of an original sport here, so others are starting just starting to grow.”

One senior, Haley Arlis, plays multiple sports such as golf and soccer, believes that people have the idea that some sports are just more pleasing to watch than others.

“I think in the U.S., everyone wants competition and they want to enjoy what they’re watching.” Arlis said. “What most people say is that they don’t watch some sports over others, or girl sports over guy sports because it’s not as entertaining as the other one that they want to watch.”

One reason that some sports are more appreciated than others is because they are not given the chance to truly shine and show what they are capable of.

Senior Erin Dunn, a bowler, sees this problem and debunks this idea.

“People think that [popular sports] are more exciting than sports like golf or bowling, but if you actually take the time to go to a bowling tournament, you can see how exciting everything actually is.”

Sports fans choose what they want to follow not only based on what the sport is but also who plays it. Gender has a huge role as far as popularity and attendance at games. There are various reasons as to why one would prefer a men’s game over a women’s. Arlis expresses why she thinks these reasonings exist.

“Sometimes people think that guy sports are more entertaining because they’re more athletic.” Arlis said. “In basketball they can dunk, so it’s like ‘we can go watch some people dunk or watch the girls just dribble the ball around and maybe shoot a couple hoops.’”  

Even though sports such as football and baseball are the main focus in America, others are beginning to emerge from the shadows and gain national attention. Those who play these underappreciated sports have great hope that one day, the whole world will give all sports the recognition they deserve.