On Sep 27, 2025, the James Campbell High School Sabers football team took their then 5-0-0 team to Mililani for their second league-official game of the 2025 season. For the Campbell Sabers, they were determined to play because their game against Kahuku the week prior was suspended mid-game due to a power outage. When the day arrived, this anticipated game was complemented by an enormous crowd that consisted of vast student sections, previous graduates, and both the Mililani Trojan and Saber Marching Bands. Both teams played lights out, but the Trojans walked away with the win with a final score of 30-23.
The crowd brought their energy and excitement throughout the entire game, regardless of how well either team was playing. This begs the question of how can an audience contribute to the overall feel of events.
Teams ranging from high-school sports to professional sports have crowds of people watching them play in support of their team. An article titled, The Audience Effect: The Impact of Spectators on Athletes Performance writes about both positives and negative effects of having a crowd on and how it psychologically can affect a player. In short, it says this:
The audience brings out the atmosphere of an event and brings out the energy of players too.
With that being said, a constant issue facing athletes of smaller sports is that there is barely any crowd to play for. Many school sports, not involving football or basketball, receive little to no attention. The players put in work for months on end. An example of that would be Cross Country. They can be seen running around the school, during the evenings and afternoons. One event that isn’t considered a sport by some, yet still requires countless hours of training and preparation, is the Saber Marching Band. They play both at football games and perform in tournaments against other school across the island.
People have different reasons to be in a sport. However, even with all the time and effort athletes put in to be the best, to some, there’s still a piece missing. An energetic, supportive audience can be that missing piece for them, giving them a final boost to perform their best. As written earlier, there are reasons to play sports and not everybody’s is the same. Some play to be the best and some play to represent something or someone. There are also some who play to bring attention to their sport and give the audience something to get excited about.
