Creek is using new methods for the homecoming football game to help with crowds, safety, and participation.
Students with an activities pass now have to get a physical ticket during a lunch period from Tuesday to Thursday to attend the game. These tickets will be given outside of athletics due to the expectations of the game selling out.
“We have set aside 2,000 hard tickets, all the kids have to do is show their activities pass,” Instructional Support Administrator and Assistant Athletic Director Brynn Thomas said.
If students are unable to get a ticket during that time, students have to buy tickets online, with a few tickets available at the game. If a student does not have an activities pass they will still have to buy a ticket online.
“We are planning to keep a couple hundred at the door, in case kids didn’t make this happen,” Thomas said.
Over the past years, multiple games have been over capacity on the home side due to large amounts of students coming to games while also having people throughout the community come in at the same time.
“What ended up happening last year was we were full on the home side, so we had to send some people on the visitor side,” Athletics Director Jason Wilkins said.
As a result of safety concerns from such a large crowd, the district has put together an event staff with vetted security guards. These volunteer security guards went through a screening process before receiving the job.
“The district has spent a lot of time ensuring safety, focusing on safety and security in their stadiums,” Thomas said.
Even with the additional security, some deans and administrators will supervise the event. Watching over the student section to make sure that nobody is misbehaving, and allow everyone to enjoy the game.
“We have worked together to make sure that we’re spreading out all of those resources,” Thomas said.
Creek also worked to try and improve student involvement with spirit leaders. During games, an issue of involvement has come up due to the layout of the student section, with the upperclassmen in the front while the lowerclassmen were at the back.
“The sophomores and the freshmen, in this case, at the very top, were having a hard time being engaged in the game,” Thomas said.
Students who attended games also noticed the pattern of upperclassmen participating more than underclassmen.
“Only the seniors and juniors actually wear the right colors when the school says to do a white out,” sophomore Andy Bian said.
In this homecoming game, there will be many changes with the hope of improving the safety and atmosphere before and during the game. This way people won’t be forced to go to the away side, while also being able to follow the spirit leaders.
“We want kids to come out, come support all programs not just football, but you know, we love our kids to be out there supporting other kids,” Thomas said.
