Jordan Sutter was born to be a fan of the Westfield State University (WSU) Owls. She is currently a junior here at WSU. Sutter was born and raised in Westfield, Massachusetts. Her dad is the head men’s basketball coach here for the university as well, and has been since before she was born. She has grown up watching this team play. She is currently studying abroad this semester at Florida International University in Miami.
This Q&A was conducted over the phone, and was lightly edited to clean up the quotes.
You were born and raised in Westfield. Were you always a Westfield sports fan?
Correct. Yes, I have always been. My father has coached there for 28 years now so I’ve always been a part of it.
And was it just of the sport he coached or was it all of them?
Pretty much just basketball, but I would go to the football games as well.
Is basketball your favorite sport to watch for WSU?
100%
And why is that?
Well, I just have such a love for basketball and that’s just the sport. I understand the most and I feel like it’s just such a family for me because I consider the boys like brothers to me and obviously my father is the coach.
And do you watch any other games at the school other than basketball?
Just like if I’m out, like with my friends, I’ll go to a football game. And as a kid, I’d go to football games or soccer games with my father. But otherwise, just basketball specific.
So why do you think it’s important for students to go to games here at school?
I think it’s important because it’s just so interactive. It makes the team, I feel like, the players want that interaction, so they play better when the fans are there and they cheer them on. It’s fan engagement so it makes the players play better.
Have you been to any athletic games at your current school?
Yes I have been. Basketball games for men’s. There’s actually one tonight at 7 pm.
And how do those games compare to here?
Okay so, it’s a different atmosphere and it’s a much bigger institution. But they, I’m gunna be honest, they’re not that good. But I think that’s just their coaching staff. So, and they’re really great kids. It’s just very different going from like a division one school, like back home to a division three school because it’s so much bigger, and so much more going on.
As for the games, do you think that it’s more personable here since it’s a smaller school?
I definitely think it’s more personable back at home at Westfield State. Just being a smaller school, so the connection, everyone knows everyone pretty much back home. So I definitely think it’s different.
Do you think it’s different bad or different good?
I don’t think it’s bad. I just think there are definitely are clear differences like as a division one school. There’s much more people, much more fan engagement, but home everyone knows everyone so. But either way it’s not bad.
I know you’ve been surrounded by sports your whole life and your concentration is Media Arts and Analysis. Do you want to work within the sports world in the future?
Yeah, so I’m definitely looking into that. I’m currently taking sports management. I definitely want to look into something maybe with like sports broadcasting or something of the sorts with sports management.
Do you think your career goals are purely sports, or do you think you would like to go into other things as well? Or with your love of sports do you just want to focus on that?
It’s definitely my love of sports, but I’ve always like, for the last maybe three or four years, been interested in broadcasting. So I feel the collaboration of the two would work really well for me in the future.
Because of that do you plan to go to different sports games or try different classes here at WSU when you come back? Do you have any plans for the future?
Yeah, so for sure. So I did like plan a bunch of sports games here at Florida International and I would love to expand and go to volleyball games, football games, soccer games, back at Westfield State as well. And I want to try and get like an interview, maybe at a television station or something relating to sports and broadcasting.
