What angers me about Freedom sports is the very thing that drives me as an athlete and as a fan. Around Beaver County, Freedom sports are considered a joke. I have talked to numerous athletes from other schools who say that when they see Freedom on their schedules, they automatically consider it a win. My question is: why is it that Freedom is regarded as the little brother when it comes to sports? The answer is plain and simple: people around the county only look at the mainstream sports such as football and basketball. To put it politely, neither the football team nor the basketball teams over the past couple of years have been overly impressive. The football team hasn’t won a section championship since 1978. The boys basketball team hasn’t won a section championship since Bob Gallagher was the coach back in 1983. Also, the boys basketball team is just three years removed from a winless record. However, football and basketball aren’t the only sports in Freedom. If people looked at Freedom sports other than those two, one would notice Freedom is a difficult school to beat and probably has some of the best athletes in the county. To start, the Freedom girls track team has been nothing short of dominant the last three years. In fact, last year’s team has recently been fitted for their WPIAL championship rings. Also in the past twelve months, the baseball, boys soccer, boys track, and girls track teams have all claimed section titles. Not many schools get to say that about their sports programs. It’s a shame that no matter how good our sports are here at Freedom, they will never get the respect that they deserve. There is only one thing for the athletes to do in order to gain respect, and that is to use the disrespect as motivation. Use the fact that we are already considered defeated before the game starts as an advantage. That way, teams from other schools will have to scratch out that “W” that they put on the schedules and put an “L” in its place.