The wide selection of sports has led to more athletic engagement from FHC students, but does this range allow every sport to get its attention that it deserves?
Everyone at FHC knows the big sports: Football, Soccer, Hockey, Basketball, and Lacrosse. But more unknown sports go more unnoticed, like Swim and Dive, Track and Field, Rugby, and Equestrian. But these lesser-known teams sometimes have success, which usually goes unrecognized. This FHC feature will highlight these unrecognized sports and maybe open these sports up to more of the FHC fan base.
At Track and Field meets, you will see exciting divisions, including fast-paced, like the 100m; slow-paced, like the mile and 2 mile; and field events like long jump and high jump. This diversity in the sport as a whole is hard to train for as an athlete, because each takes its own skill set. Grayson Porter is a runner for FHC and he feels as that he people don’t understand this.
“I feel our team doesn’t receive the attention we deserve,” says Porter, who runs the 100m and 200m dashes for the FHC Track and Field team. “Last season, our girls’ team did really well and worked extremely hard, but their success wasn’t well known around the school … our men didn’t do as well as the girls, but we still worked very hard all season long … I believe I did well for my first season.”
These hard-working runners and sprinters had success in Track and Field, but success in their sport often goes unnoticed by the FHC fan base and students not in this area of FHC sports; even the most skilled on the team are often forgotten. Track and Field has an infinite skill ceiling, and heats that allow everyone to compete.
“Track and field is one of the most competitive sports … There’s always something you need to compete against, such as your personal times and other runners,” says Porter, “Some of the events are boring, but most events, like the sprints, are fun to watch because they are really close and fast paced … fans should support us because we work really hard at practice and it’s physically intensive.”
Just like track and field, Rugby is far more competitive than most people assume, and fans and students tend to underestimate the amount of effort that goes into these sports.
Rugby at FHC is more well-known than other sports, but almost never talked about. The team hasn’t appeared in this year’s standings yet, one more sign of how easily rugby flies under the radar at FHC. A reason for this is the lack of popularity of the sport in the United States.
Rugby as a whole is more popular overseas, and even pro and Olympic teams are rarely given the attention that they deserve because rugby is one of the most physically demanding sports and is hard to play. Fans at FHC usually have a rough idea of its existence, but tend not to pay attention to it. Aaron Anglin, an FHC fan, is a great example of this.
“I did [know we had a Rugby team], but I’ve never gone to any of their games,” said Anglin.
Rugby is like the European equivalent of football; American football was an offshoot of rugby, and it became more popular in the US.
The next focus is on the Swim and Dive team, which, along with the rest of the sports, feels underappreciated. Tilda Bupp is a swimmer for the team and feels this way.
“I don’t think that the amount of work we put in is accurately represented,” says Bupp, ” We spend two hours in the pool every day, along with two days of weight training and Saturday morning practice, and I think people don’t understand that.”
Most people probably think that Swim and Dive is just an easy sport that doesn’t take any work, but it’s probably one of the hardest-working teams at FHC.
The swim and dive sport as a whole at FHC is more successful than people think. The women’s swim and dive team, as of September 10th, 2025, is currently in 12th place in the state of Michigan and 4th in the MHSAA Division 2 ranking, which has over 50 teams from around Michigan.
Another thing is that people think that competitive swimming is like regular swimming, but it is miles apart.
“The biggest misconception about swim and dive is that it’s easy. It’s easy to swim,” says Bupp, “but it’s really difficult to swim well competitively. Especially to make state or MISCA cuts, it’s much harder than people think.”
This success is fueled by the hard work put in by the athletes participating in this sport, which is also why this sport is fun to watch, and fans are encouraged to go to a meet and watch the fast-paced action of the FHC swim and dive team.
“I think people should come watch swim and dive because there is always action in the pool,” says Bupp, “always at least one event happening, and it’s pretty fun! We keep the energy up during meets, and I think it’s a pretty fun time!”
Almost no one at FHC even knows of the existence of this sport. Equestrian isn’t competing this year because of the lack of people, which is partly to blame because of the overall unpopularity of the whole sport, and the nonexistent fan base of the FHC equestrian team. Most people wouldn’t know the general rules of equestrian. Grayson Porter is an FHC student who fits that stereotype.
“No, because horse riding sounds boring and seems like something I wouldn’t be interested in. And no, I do not plan on watching equestrian because horses are not something that I would find fun.”
Equestrian doesn’t appeal to the average fan because of the lack of action and the fact that most people don’t think horses are interesting. Even professional equestrians, who are the best in the world, still don’t attract many fans and are uninteresting to the average fan.
