As the major sports season cancellations began to drag on last spring and summer due to COVID-19, sports fans around the world were feeling the effects of withdrawal. Junior Supraneeth Yedem, president of the Sportology Club, felt there was a void in his life that could be filled by forming a new group.

“I was bored without any professional sports because of COVID,” Yedem said. “I was thinking about how once pro sports started, we could create a club where that’s what we talked about and just have fun.”

Every Friday, the Sportology Club Zooms to discuss the major news of the day, upcoming matchups and interesting player transactions across the major sports. Their discussions aren’t overly structured aside from a basic list of topics.

The group also satisfies their competitive urges by playing in a fantasy football league together. In the future, Yedem hopes the club will grow in size, so they can have more diverse discussions.

A.J. Sansom, science teacher, became the club’s sponsor when Yedem contacted him before the start of the school year. 

“I had Supraneeth in class last year, and he’s always been a solid person, so when he asked I was all in,” Sansom said.

Even though Sansom is an avid sports fan, especially of the National Football League (NFL), he rarely speaks up with his opinion during club meetings. He said in a short 35-minute time frame, he wants to make sure everyone has the chance to speak. He said it would be inappropriate for him to jump in because many of them have actually taken time to research player statistics and team trends before the discussion.

Sansom enjoys how the friendliness of the club allows them to joke with each other. He said members of the club give him a hard time for being a Detroit Lions fan because they haven’t made the playoffs since 2016.

“I wear a Lions sweatshirt a lot on Fridays,” Sansom said. “Man, if you want to get made fun of, just be a fan of the Lions.”

Although it’s rare for all of the members to completely agree on a topic, they’re all usually able to voice their opinions respectfully.

Pranav Sriraman, sophomore, said the discussions usually get the most heated when the group compares two players or tries to predict the outcome of a Sunday football game. Sriraman said he hopes the group also starts discussing less popular sports moving forward such as volleyball and cricket to attract new members to the group.

Sriraman added that people are welcome to join regardless of their current knowledge level regarding sports.

“We just advise that if you join, you are passionate because this is a good place to learn new things, become more knowledgeable and express what you believe,” Sriraman said.