No offense to the track team, but I am definitely not a track connoisseur. This may be a little shocking to hear, but my summers are not spent going to club track meets for fun.

I do not spend my free time keeping up with the teams, nor do I understand the sport completely.

All that said, I have been to a few high school track meets, whether it’s to watch my cousin run her last mile or to watch my best friend crush her 100-meter dash.

I have never been just to support my school.

I don’t think that means I have no school spirit — it just means there are some events that just don’t make sense for me to go to simply to support our school.

I’m not against supporting your school and having spirit, but I am against the unrealistic expectation that people should care about your sport just because you happen to go to the same school.

Maybe it’s the individual-sport athlete in me, but I am a strong believer that athletes should be able to perform without needing the validation of the whole school behind them cheering.

There are way too many athletes competing in their high school sport, who believe they are entitled to an excessive amount of praise.

These athletes make me wonder what’s going to happen to them when they go to college and have an away game.

Will they be able to perform well without the validation of their schoolmates, or will they crack under the pressure of a stadium of people cheering against them?

A prime example of being able to perform without a crowd of hundreds of people cheering is band, who won State this year without the school in the stands watching.

It makes the players seem narcissistic and insecure when people talk about how imperative it is that the whole school shows up to their sporting events to cheer them on.

Yes, it is impressive that athletes on football, soccer, basketball and many other teams drown out the sound of cheers and focus on the game.

It is equally impressive that people in golf, tennis and cross country can find the motivation within themselves to push through any pain and compete with out exterior motivations.

So next time you can’t make a football game or the soccer tournament, don’t feel too badly — the athletes at our school are capable of holding their own and motivating themselves.