With a sports history as rich as Cerritos College, students, faculty and fans alike should be chomping at the bit to get a seat at one of the sporting events, right?
Cerritos is viewed as one of the most prolific community colleges in California when it comes to sports if, not the most.
It has accounted for 42 state championships over the last 50 years in 12 different sports.
“It is tough to fill seats in Los Angeles for any event. There are so many [other] events for people to attend,” Athletic Director Dan Clauss said.
College President Dr. Jose Fierro has expressed the intention of wanting to build the excitement back around Cerritos sports.
“I believe increasing school pride is a good thing. At this point my efforts are focused on supporting student services, athletics and ASCC,” he said.
He has began his initiative by making the college’s basketball games free of charge and still no one shows up aside from the family and friends of the players but very seldom do students show up.
Freshman basketball player Luis Medearis said, “It would be more fun if there was support from [students] because family members are going to support you and the team but they’re not as rowdy as students would be.”
Despite the constant efforts of Clauss to reach out to ASCC in order to have someone present at the games, he has yet to be granted his request.
Clauss said, “I’ve asked ASCC multiple times to partner up with athletics to bring halftime shows, giveaways, and different incentives to help fill the stands. They haven’t shown much interest.”
In response ASCC President Eduardo De La Rosa said, “All I can say is our homecoming game had a higher attendance. I mean that’s not what I was led to believe in my conversations with him.”
He added, “If that’s the way he feels, everyone is open to their interpretation.”
During the football season many times the players were playing in front of friends and family in the stands as oppose to fellow Falcons.
Football head coach Frank Mazzotta said, “There is just so many things to do right now. Kids have a lot of things going on, but when I first started here you had to have a numbered seat to get in there. [The stadium would be full.]”
He added, “Students were more active, they had pep rallies in the quad in the afternoon they did all kinds of things. They just stroked the interest of the kids for them to come to the games.”
According to Clauss, “ASCC keeps the money from ticket sales for football games.”
He would like to see ASCC find more ways to increase ticket sales to benefit the students.
De La Rosa admitted that he is not aware of the exact percentage of sales that ASCC does keep.
It is very possible that many people that attend Cerritos College do not know that men and women’s tennis are a combined 43-4 heading into the South Coast Conference Tournament.
Or that the school’s men and women’s track and field teams are among the best in the state according to the physical education department.
Fierro said, “I think ASCC is working on this. However, I think we can have multiple areas collaborate in order to provide the support needed to promote sports on campus.”
With so much being discussed on campus, it begs the question in terms of athletics attendance, is it up to ASCC, the respective teams, or the students themselves?
Or will this just be another issue that is tossed to the waste side?
