The Beacon Editorial Board wants to commend Wilkes Athletics for cultivating support between teams.

Wilkes University has plenty of athletes that play many different sports. As many athletes know, including the athletes on the staff here at The Beacon, games grow and become more intense and those crunch time moments that athletes dream about suddenly become a reality.

“When student athletes support each other,” assistant football coach Michael Harris said. “It builds not only a community but a family.”

Most athletes do not play for the spotlight, but when there is a supporting crowd at your games, they definitely become much more enjoyable.

Support for athletics not only makes the sport much more enjoyable for everyone, but many athletes feel that it elevates their game.

“Getting our intercollegiate athletic teams to support each other at athletic contests is something that is crucial on a campus like ours,” men’s basketball head coach Izzi Metz said. “Where over 30 percent of our student body competes on a team, [we rely on each other’s support].”

With the football team having recruits on campus the last few Saturdays, the coaches have gone off-schedule to bring the recruits to home basketball games.

“Football is doing its best right now to build the feeling of community by supporting other teams,” Harris said. “When you have the support of other athletes the atmosphere becomes an athletes dream.”

The Wilkes athletics community has worked on getting that support and with the coaches and athletes getting involved it seems to be coming to fruition.

In the fall, athletes came together in support of the football team, providing a good atmosphere for the football games.

Both women’s and men’s soccer received good crowds for their games. Women’s soccer made it to the MAC Freedom championship this year along with a birth and a first round win in the National Tournament.

As the year turned and the basketball season has come along, the men’s basketball team has received tons of support, mostly from the other Wilkes Athletics teams.

The basketball team has ridden the wave of their hard work and their peers support to a top spot in the MAC Freedom conference and have almost locked up a spot in the conference tournament.

“It’s very important for teams to get support from each other,” Colonels sophomore basketball player Rob Pecorelli said. “It creates a level of excitement knowing that other teams and athletes are rooting for your success.”

Athletes love to play the game, but the feel of the game changes when there is an atmosphere created by fellow athletes. When athletes feel like the result of their play will impact others, it means so much more. It makes the work every athlete puts in that much more rewarding when it pays off.

Athletes live for the opportunity to hit that walk-off home run in the World Series, hit the game winning buzzer beater in the NBA Finals, score the overtime goal in the Stanley Cup, or catch the game winning touchdown in the big game. These moments are dreamt of by athletes because of the atmosphere which creates the world biggest stages.

Wilkes athletics teams will not be able to create those kinds of atmospheres with their support, but they can create an environment that inspires a winning culture and an attractive spot for future Division III athletes — and we feel that this is what they are doing.