By Amity Batt

Rivalry games can cause mixed reactions from players on both sides.  It can be some players’ favorite game of the season, while for others, it’s their least favorite. Some athletes love the tension and the excitement of the match up while others get nervous and stressed about it. 

But for me? I love the intense moments and that feeling of adrenaline during and before the big games.

From a player standpoint, rival games are the most intense and fun to play during the season. I mostly enjoy them because of the atmosphere. The liveliness of not only the crowd, but the players on both of the teams, is personally one of my favorite parts. 

From personal experience, the in-county rivals are the most intense because everyone usually knows each other. Another reason I think these games get intense is because my sister goes to my main rival school. That makes things more intense, and definitely more interesting. I actually really enjoyed playing against my sister in basketball because it made the game a lot less scary. This was the first time playing against the school I transferred from.

Before stepping onto the court I didn’t feel nervous or afraid at all, it was actually the opposite. I knew it would be a big moment, but I wasn’t fearful of it. Then coming upon the actual moment I felt all of the emotions at once. My favorite part was just that I knew everyone on both teams. My least favorite part was fouling out and knowing I could’ve played so much better in that game. That was a game I really wanted to perform well in, but personally I was okay with the loss because of the memories I made playing against my old friends and sister.

For most players, the rivalry game is important to them and that’s the reason the whole atmosphere gets so ecstatic. The down side of this however is that the pressure of rival games can feel like a ton of bricks weighing on your shoulders because you just want to play extra good in that specific game. 

No matter which direction the games go, getting able to be a part of such a big game is still really cool by itself. This game is the one you should truly leave it all out on the floor for. Rivalry games have been around forever so no one should ever be too sad about the loss because it’ll eventually turn around and everyone will get a chance to win.