- April 24, 2024
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I’ve watched girls compete in sports ever since my middle school days. And, for the first time in my life, I’m seeing girls get heckled. It’s weird.
Just to be fair, if you are on the “heckle them all” side, I never hear any disrespectful comments against either boys or girls. But, after hearing Flagler Palm Coast’s student section taunt Lady Pirate Miracle Porter by chanting her name, while FPC led 7-1 late in the match, it became apparent to me that heckling both genders is the norm for most of the schools I cover.
A couple months ago, at the volleyball crosstown match, I remember the Matanzas section seemingly get under FPC’s Kierra Jones and other Lady Bulldogs’ skin with their number chants.
Growing up, I was always taught to treat girls better than I treated boys. When I played basketball or flag football with girls, I purposefully avoided any physical contact with them, when I would’ve done anything to score on a guy.
While at girls’ games, I always cheered, but I never taunted the girls. I only focused on the team I favored, and so did the other supporters on both sides. But, that has changed.
I asked Porter how she felt about the heckling, and she said, “I really don't pay it any mind, when I catch people trying to pull me down by the things they say. I just take it as motivation and shut them up by do what I do — score. Then they get silent; they act as if a cat got their tongue.”
FPC fans were a lot quieter after her three goals. I also remember Matanzas fans leaving Jones along, after she spiked the ball for an FPC point that helped the Bulldogs win that set. She fist pumped while looking back at her hecklers.
I love trash talk, as long as it’s not derogatory. And, it doesn’t appear that these girls shy away from the heckling. Like Porter and Jones, it only seems to fuel them, and they make those hecklers somewhat regret calling them out.
I remember covering my college basketball team — the Trinity Baptist Eagles — a few years ago. They were playing their arch Rival Pensacola. The coach’s son starred on the Pensacola team, and our fans heckled him from start to finish.
Both teams were tied and expecting to go into overtime, but the coach’s son, who missed every 3-pointer he took, silenced our gym with a long distance buzzer-beater.
While I enjoy trash talk, I enjoy that kind of response even better.
