The home field advantage is among the most hotly debated topics in sport. While many believe it can decide games, there are equally as many who think playing at home is irrelevant.
This season at Newtown High School, however, there is evidence to suggest that home support can make all the difference come game time.
A study on the records of each team sport to play at Newtown’s Blue and Gold Stadium found that while Newtown teams are victorious in 72 percent of their home games, they have won just 57 percent of away matches.
It is important to note that the results are subject to many factors that may have contributed to home success or away losses; the quality of opposition, weather conditions, and the potential absence of key players are but a few.
Among the teams to play at home in the fall sport season at Newtown High School are football, field hockey, volleyball, and soccer for both girls and boys. Sports such as cross country and swimming were not included due their individual nature of competition.
NHS junior field hockey player Megan Goyda was adamant that the home field advantage was important.
“Yes, it matters. The atmosphere creates a more intense feeling,” Goyda said.
Fellow athletes and juniors Tom Cotton and Connor Barrett feel that the benefits of playing at home are felt much more at the professional level than in high school. However, variations of the home field advantage may be felt at all levels of play, they said.
“Yes, it absolutely matters. The stats are there. The home team always wins,” Barrett said.
Barrett pointed to home records in professional sports as evidence.
“The stats show that. If you have a crowd that’s behind you then it’s harder for the other team to make adjustments because they can’t hear anything,” he said.
Cotton feels that atmosphere is as important as the players on the field.
“Volume, vibes, are both important. Distractions are limited when you’re the home team,” he said.
Many have lauded the impact of so-called 12th man. To have fans jeering and rooting against you can have major detrimental effects on performance, according to social psychologist Jeremy P. Jamieson from University of Rochester.
“When you do performance monitoring -- that is, trying to do something carefully so that you don’t do it poorly -- you’re basically trying not to lose. Instead of thinking about winning, you’re trying to avoid being booed,” Jamieson said.
This is made clear when one visits CenturyLink Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks. Believed by many to have one of the strongest home crowds in the NFL, the Seahawks raise a flag bearing the number twelve before each game in honor of their fans, the ‘twelfth man’.
The World Series bound baseball team at the time The Hawkeye went to press, the New York Mets, have enjoyed a successful season both at home and away this season. However, their home record at 49 wins and 32 losses compares favorably to their away record, at 41 wins and 40 losses.
This would suggest that the home field advantage is indeed a force at all levels of sport; from high school all the way through to the professionals playing week in, week out.
Newtown, which many believe has strong home support, boasts winning records both at home and on the road for every team to play at the Blue and Gold Stadium.
Coaches, fans, and players alike will be hoping for more of the same as they look for a strong finish to the fall season.