Heading to see the game? Lucky you! Certainly nothing quite beats the atmosphere that surrounds going to a game in the flesh, as opposed to watching it at home on the big screen. However, the best part of going to a football, baseball or basketball game is the chance to show your team how much you are rooting for them. Even if it is something not quite as grandiose, such as your child’s peewee soccer game, the extra show of support for your team can help give that extra push towards victory. So here’s some example ways to show support for your team at a sporting event.

Come Up With a Chant or Song

For those feeling creative, there are fewer ways more suitable to show support for your team than to come up with a victory chant or song to help spur the players on. Admittedly this tactic is only truly helpful if there’s enough people to make it carry, so make sure you have friends with you to make it work. One person chanting on his own probably won’t be heard over the roar of other spectators.  However, once it gets going, you’ll soon see a marked difference in how hard your team starts to play.

If you are really good at it, you may well find your victory chant or song being taken up by other supporters as well.

Bring Drinks and Snacks for the Team

Sure, this is a bit of a Mom thing to do. However, you’d be surprised what bringing in snacks or buying a round of drinks at the bar for a team can do for their morale. If nothing else, it shows that their fans really do think about them and regards them as people, not as sporting machines. Likewise, something sugary like cookies can help keep the team energised while juice can help keep them hydrated.

So not only does it improve morale, but it is very practical too!

Make a Custom Banner

Customised banners are easy and cheap to make thanks to websites like www.qualitysigndesigner.com. Make them large, colourful and bold so that they can be more easily seen even in very crowded stadiums with gloomy seating lights. In situations where you probably wouldn’t be noticed otherwise, a custom banner emblazoned with a supportive message is a fantastic way to keep your team motivated. Remember that the larger the banner, the more troublesome it can be to hold, so make sure you bring a friend or ten if the banner in question is particularly large.

Smaller banners or flags are also always an option. Bigger is not always better. If you are quite close to the field, then you can easily get away with a small banner that you can hold on your own or held by a post.

Paint Yourself Up

Paint yourself up in the colours of your team. This particular strategy to show support for your team goes way back to the Iron Ages, and it is a very distinctive way of telling your team that you are behind them. Usually, most people only paints their faces, yet it is quite common for fans to paint their torsos as well. If you are attending the game with a bunch of friends, you can even have a small message painted collectively across your chests. Just make sure you all stand in the correct positions to keep the message from getting jumbled!

Wear the Teams Jersey or Shirt

If you have any clothing that relates to the team, such as a hoody bearing the team’s mascot or a commercial football jersey, be sure to wear it to the game. Not only does wearing the team’s colours help assure them that they do, in fact, have fans, but purchasing such goods helps keep the team funded and supported. For every jersey, scarf or baseball cap you buy, you are helping fund the team’s training and facilities. This is even more valuable still, all the moral support in the world can’t pay for a new set of helmets or training equipment.

The author, Christian Mills, is a freelance writer who never fails to show support for his team at the game, particularly given that he’s attending college at Notre Dame.