Last week, a massive brawl broke out between Eaglecrest High School and their rival Smoky Hill at the end of a boys basketball game.
Greeley West and Greeley Central have surprisingly had no such incident happen in their longtime rivalry. At West, basketball and volleyball game student sections share the same side of the court, separated only by a section for parents. The Eaglecrest incident begs the question, what’s stopping chaos from ensuing at a heated West contest? It’s a particularly good time to think about this as West squares off with Central in wrestling on Friday night and in basketball during the first week of February.
Dean of Students Mr. Valentino Dressler – who attends the extra-curricular events – said administration is well-aware that emotions run high at sporting events and that they try to prevent any incident from happening early. “We have a protocol and what it looks like is we have administrators at the game. We try to have a presence in the building to deter a lot of that behavior. Those bigger games like Central have security and SROs (as well).”
Hall Monitor Mr. Josh Tiffany gets extra hours when marquee games are on the schedule. Othe campus monitors are also there to add a secure pressence. He said that security is ready to handle the situations as they arise. “No, I think it’s not a concern at all. I mean, it’s a concern absolutely. But it’s kind of, that’s why we have heightened security at those games… because things like that are kind of expected to happen,” Tiffany explained.
Tiffany also provided insight on their action plan if such an event were to occur at a game. “The first step is to make sure everyone’s alerted on the radios …And then just kind of assist the SROs and law enforcement that’s there, assist them in a way that could help out everyone,” Tiffany said.
Greeley West senior Tyler Vail provided student insight into what he would do if an incident was to happen at a game. “As a frequent goer to the basketball games, I would personally try my best to stay out of it until it gets super out of hand. I don’t look to fight, but rivalry games can get heated,” Vail explained.
Senior Chelsie Roberts, who has played volleyball in front of crowds regularly, said that she was not really worried about it while she was playing. “At West, we are not overly competitive when it comes to sports. So if the games were more intense and had something to fight about it might become more of a concern.”
