Even with the recent success of our football, cross country and soccer teams, I’ve heard several times throughout the hallways people say, “I don’t know why people care so much about high school sports, it doesn’t matter anyway.”

To be honest, I don’t understand this argument because high school sports are the last time that some kids will be able to play the sport they love competitively.

The reason high school athletics are so great is because it’s the last pure form of sport there is. Everyone says that college sports aren’t corrupted by big egos and selfishness like the pros, but really, college players are treated like professionals; they just aren’t paid.

This is why many college athletes have accepted payment from outside sources for personal appearances, autographs, etc. because with all their public exposure, they feel like they deserve compensation and that’s when they break rules. Many people treat them like professionals, but not many people remember that they’re kids, just like us.

I don’t really watch college sports because for the most part, I feel that there’s something missing. I see the appeal of college sports, because most of the fans of each of the teams went to the school that they cheer for, but there’s something missing to me.

The best thing about sports for our age is that the kids that you see in the paper every day for breaking records and winning games are the kids you see in the hallway. When I open up my local newspaper and read about someone I know, the next day I can congratulate them in class. You can’t do that at any other level of sport. When Brian Urlacher makes 15 tackles in a game, I can’t congratulate him. I can’t count how many times I’ve picked up a paper and seen someone I know and told my parents “Hey! I know this kid, he’s in my (insert class here) class!” You really get to know the people that represent your school in sporting events.

Knowing the athletes also draws spectators to different sports. Because I know people on the soccer team, for example, I am more inclined to go to a game at school than I am to go to a Chicago Fire game and watch that. It’s the personal connection that leads me to want to watch these games, not my interest in the sport, which is something lacking in higher level sports. You care about what happens in a game not because you care about the sport, but you care about who it happens to.

In the past, people used to go to professional sporting events because it was an inexpensive way to have fun. They wouldn’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a ticket and make such a big event out of it. When you want to watch a high school game, you simply pay $20 for an athletic pass and you can get into any sporting event you want. You don’t have to worry about transportation, overly expensive food or ornery fans, you just show your card at the gate and you get to enjoy a high quality sporting event with a couple hundred friends.

So, before you say “high school sports don’t matter,” think of those on the field who look up in the stands and see their friends cheering for them. Not random people who paid hundreds of dollars for those front row end zone seats, but their real friends. It may be the last real moment of glory that these kids have in their sports career. And the best part of it is, they get to have their friends witness it.