WIU0812 wrote:brewer2125 wrote:vatusay wrote:Have heard players that received scholarship before program was cut will still receive it.
No one cares about tennis, swimming, volleyball, crops country, any of those sports. Sorry it's the truth. Coaches, players, and parents that's it.
Well that is good that they don't leave the athlete hanging.
As to your second comment that no one cares, here is a comment in Niche by a current sophomore posted 5 days ago:
"Athletics: The football team is alright. They win some games they've done pretty good this year. But you never hear of the other sports, the games in baseball, basketball, volleyball, etc. are rarely promoted so you don't even know when a game is going on."
So maybe some people do care, but don't get sufficient information.
I am pretty sure he is not just referring to WIU that in general most people in United States do not care about those sports excluding perhaps baseball and softball which still have a strong following in the US. That is not to knock the talent that it requires to do the other sports they just interest fans less than others.
Even if the football and basketball team lose money it is more of a social thing for the students and gives the school at least something different to do on a few nights a year. If you ever look at the ratemyprofessor.com site kids can rate the school and their comments basically are do not come here if you do not like to party because all there is to do is drink. I mean the town basically has a Walmart, JC Penny & a Movie Theater for kids to get out to. So even if it costs money to keep operating I would think just the aspect of having one more event that kids actually like at the school would be a plus. Maybe I am wrong and maybe the way I view it is wrong, but I just think the town and school see to much value in keeping football alive.
This is really no different in high school either. I mean you really think any of those programs bring any profit and yet most Friday nights you see stands packed with students or on basketball nights lot of high school kids went to basketball games and I doubt many of the schools think of dropping those programs first to save a sport that does not entertain a fraction of the students. I just think in the US we pride Football, Basketball & Baseball as elite sports and the rest are lower tier. That is not meant to offend it is merely my observation.
Yes, actually that quote was by a WIU sophomore commenting about WIU.
Anyway, I think your generalization that no one cares about tennis is actually incorrect. I found some interesting facts being reported about the sport of tennis and cut and pasted it here ----- "In the recently released US Sports, Fitness, and Recreation Participation Report from the Physical Activity Council (PAC) — a consortium of six sports, recreation, and outdoor trade associations — despite fluctuating participation trends among traditional sports, tennis continues to lead the pack in long-term participation growth, which is up 31% from 2000-2012.
The study, which is the nation's largest physical activity study covering a sample of more than 40,000 individuals in the U.S., shows tennis as one of only two sports with positive participation growth during the previous 12 years. Gymnastics, a distant second in terms of participation growth, up 5%, is the only other traditional sport with positive growth over this period. Other "traditional" sports include: badminton, baseball, basketball, fishing, football, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, racquet, soccer, and softball."
So maybe it's just Macomb...
I've been at several high school matches in the Chicagoland area and in Bloomington where there are 200-plus people in attendance. At the IHSA state tournament, the place is crawling with people - many more than just parents and coaches. Go to a Northwestern or Illinois tennis match on a nice day. They draw.
At WIU, the facility was recently resurfaced and in that regard pretty much brings up the facility to minimum basic standard. Since there are no bleachers, the place pretty must looks like the courts are there for the general public and not for an NCAA D! level competition. Imagine if you are a recruit - you see a facility at a D1 school that is less impressive than their high school courts, it's not going to end well for WIU on the recruiting end. I'm not saying build a stadium for tennis. Maybe they should move the courts down closer to the third base line of the softball courts, and build a platform then between the third base line of the softball field and the tennis courts which would be a dual purpose platform - have bleachers facing the softball field for their games, and then turn them around for tennis matches. At least it would give it more of a permanent, stadium "feel" than what it is now. I know it likely would never happen, but there are some things they can do like that.