Amidst the heat of soccer season, fans and foes surround the field. While the infamous Dangerzone comes together to help lead the Mills soccer teams to victory, some fans could blur the line between showing support and offending the opponents. A Housatonic parent, Bryon Gilderdale sent a letter to the editor of The Register Citizen on October 1st after Mills’ Girls Soccer win over Housy 5-2.  In his editorial “The Best and Worst of Sportsmanship Gilderdale said , “the home team fans scored a goose egg in sportsmanship.” The student section of Lewis Mills thinks otherwise.

“To be honest I haven’t witnessed any harassment of other players. I mean there are some things yelled at other players sometimes from other students, but its not harassing or very intimidating, just normal sports fans cheering for their team, said Mills senior Casey Ciemniewski.

There seems to be a difference in opinion as to whether or not the Dangerzone takes things too far while cheering. Ciemniewski also said that he has been a part of the Dangerzone since his freshmen year, and even looked up the Zone while in middle school at HarBur.  When asked how he felt about the sportsmanship fans display, Casey said that he believed the Dangerzone shows good sportsmanship, though at times some people can get a little too rowdy.  Members of the student section know how to show support, but there may be a select few that taint the group’s image.

However, the accusations made against Lewis Mills’ sportsmanship were aimed at the Dangerzone as a whole. In the editorial, Gilderdale claims that the Dangerzone “chanted as a whole (parents along with students) that certain Housy players were overrated.” The reasoning behind Mr. Gilderdale’s letter to the editor remains unknown. Was it written because he watched his team lose? Or does he Gilderdale truly disapprove of student’s behavior? Regardless of his intention, there were numerous comments on The Register Citizen website responding to Gilderdale’s post, supporting the fans of Lewis Mills soccer teams, and defending the Dangerzone’s reputation.

It’s important that the members of the Dangerzone take note of the criticism and make valiant efforts to prove them wrong. After all, Lewis Mills was awarded the Ted Alex Award for Sportsmanship for the past two school years.

“I love Dangerzone. It’s awesome and should keep going on,” said Ciemniewski.

Mills sports fans and DangerZone attendees: there is a soccer double-header, homecoming event for both boys and girls soccer on Friday, October 24th at Nassahegan Field.   A Friday night game under the lights gives the perfect opportunity to demonstrate that the Dangerzone knows what it takes to be good sports men and women.