Spring Break
Dave's place - Support for soccer is missing
David Cordill
Issue date: 10/27/08 Section: Sports
Student groups yelled and chanted and noisy horns blared from the throng. People in attendance were a part of the spectacle. The UMKC cheerleaders even showed up.
This show of support was the product of simple promotion. The game was treated as a homecoming event and was advertised as such.
UMKC soccer, off to their third best start ever, suffers in attendance because the student body is not aware of its existence.
The obvious remedy would be to treat every home game like a homecoming event. Unfortunately, the Roos have only one game remaining at Bourke Field this year.
It just makes me wonder if it could have been handled differently.
If the UMKC Athletics Web site can engineer full-page pop ups to hawk basketball season tickets and golf tournament sign ups, it certainly could have done more to bring attention to university's most successful sports program, as well as other competitive sports teams.
Several years ago, game day placards were posted at various campus locations advertising the team, time, and place of a UMKC Athletics event.
In hindsight, something like this could have directed students to their school's soccer locale which is located within walking distance of the campus.
Accessibility to the team was, and continues to be difficult during UMKC's multitude of away games this season.
Some of the games have been televised online, albeit through an exorbitant fee for most college students. Could these games have been made available at an on-campus student venue for mass viewing?
I realize it's easy for me to complain about an area not within the realm of my expertise and that UMKC has an abbreviated seven-game home schedule this season.
And I do think getting students in the stands will be much easier once the new on-campus soccer stadium is built.
But what the future holds does little to affect the impressions of those parents who walked out onto the field with their sons at halftime last Saturday.
dcordill@unews.com
This show of support was the product of simple promotion. The game was treated as a homecoming event and was advertised as such.
UMKC soccer, off to their third best start ever, suffers in attendance because the student body is not aware of its existence.
The obvious remedy would be to treat every home game like a homecoming event. Unfortunately, the Roos have only one game remaining at Bourke Field this year.
It just makes me wonder if it could have been handled differently.
If the UMKC Athletics Web site can engineer full-page pop ups to hawk basketball season tickets and golf tournament sign ups, it certainly could have done more to bring attention to university's most successful sports program, as well as other competitive sports teams.
Several years ago, game day placards were posted at various campus locations advertising the team, time, and place of a UMKC Athletics event.
In hindsight, something like this could have directed students to their school's soccer locale which is located within walking distance of the campus.
Accessibility to the team was, and continues to be difficult during UMKC's multitude of away games this season.
Some of the games have been televised online, albeit through an exorbitant fee for most college students. Could these games have been made available at an on-campus student venue for mass viewing?
I realize it's easy for me to complain about an area not within the realm of my expertise and that UMKC has an abbreviated seven-game home schedule this season.
And I do think getting students in the stands will be much easier once the new on-campus soccer stadium is built.
But what the future holds does little to affect the impressions of those parents who walked out onto the field with their sons at halftime last Saturday.
dcordill@unews.com
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