Athletic Director Ryan Portenga, who is in his second year at Shores, has been working toward positive changes for Shores athletics.

And one of those areas of focus is the student section.

"Mr. Portenga’s idea for a louder student section is going to be awesome," sophomore hockey player Trevor Boyd said. "I feel like with a louder student section, it makes a difference in how the team performs."

Over the years, Sailor student sections have been decent. However, with the idea of a louder and more interactive student section, "decent" will not be a word in a Sailor’s vocabulary.

"The student section has been lacking participation," varsity girls’ basketball coach Brad Kurth said. "Students need to become more active and sporty."

To get a more active student section, Mr. Portenga met with select students on Oct. 19 to create a "Student Section Committee." These students were selected to provide a pumped-up crowd at sporting events.

Mr. Portenga stressed that in order for this idea to become effective, "every student who is at a sporting event needs to be in the student section with school spirit, no ifs, ands or buts."

One idea Mr. Portenga has is to have each home event have a theme. Some ideas are white outs and black outs, which is where every student in the student section wear white or black; and another idea Mr. Portenga mentioned was to have a few brave students brave the cold and paint themselves with body paint and go to a hockey game. The list of ideas will continue to grow as people present Mr. Portenga with ideas.

Additionally, since this is the first year of our school’s new gym, it is expected of students to "break it in" a little.

"The louder the better," Mr. Portenga said. "Otherwise, what’s the point?"