Story by Jacob Fries, Roy Garcia, Jason Pitts

(Photo by: Adalyn Sparks)

The Johnson County Community College sports programs are among some of the best in the nation across multiple sports, respective to their divisions. With the Women’s basketball team fresh off a JUCO D2 National Championship and other main sports currently highly ranked, such as Soccer and Volleyball, JCCC sports should be in high attendance on paper.

“No, I don’t watch,” JCCC student James Arkell said. Evidence from the multiple interviews referenced in this article shows that next to no one supports JCCC sports. It’s not the sports’ fault, and it’s honestly not really the students’ fault either. Students simply just don’t know anything about the sports.

As seen in the latter half of the interview with Arkell, he did want to attend and support JCCC teams. Arkell claims it would be beneficial.

“[It would be good to] just support the school, make social media posts, and invite my friends to go [with] me to the games,” Arkell said.

The problem is that he and others don’t know where to go, when the sports happen, or “how” to even support, outside of simply watching. JCCC faces a unique problem compared to the larger Universities. JCCC is a commuter campus, and with that comes other problems.

“I live in Lawrence, it’s a long commute, it’s a long drive to get to the games,” JCCC student Qwentyn (last name not given) said.

Qwentyn is not an exception; students commute to JCCC from all over the Kansas City metro area using various forms of either personal or public transportation to get to campus here in Overland Park. As well as the fact that JCCC Students, such as Qwentyn, have a lot on their schedule outside of school that prevents them from going to games.

“I have a lot of things to do in Lawrence at home, so my schedule really doesn’t allow that,” Qwentyn said.

Students who live near campus are much more likely to attend games than students who commute. Qwentyn suggests proximity to the school matters.

“Yeah I would probably go to the Basketball games [if I lived closer],” Qwentyn said.

For students like David Gruble, the issue isn’t about getting to campus; it’s about what they find engaging.

“I don’t [attend games] only because I’m not much of a sports person,” Gruble said. “It’s not because I don’t like to go. I just don’t like to attend many sporting events. I’d rather play it myself.”

In fact, he’s more likely to attend a book fundraiser than a basketball game, though he admits his ideal event “sounds pretty boring.” Gruble’s difficulty in suggesting ways to improve sports attendance also highlights that current methods simply aren’t reaching students like him, who are more engaged by niche community events.

Despite the success of JCCC’s high-performing teams, the low student attendance suggests a disconnect between college sports culture and the diverse interests of the student body. The challenge for JCCC athletics is not just to attract fans, but to understand what motivates today’s students.