It started off as a standard game day for North Point’s volleyball team. JV had won, varsity was about to play, and the Eagles were halfway done with their games for the day. What started as a normal day, quickly turned into something much bigger than volleyball. During the national anthem before the varsity game, five players decided to kneel in protest of racial inequality in this country.

The starting lineups had been announced and both teams were ready to go. The anthem began to play, and five Eagles took a knee. The home crowd reacted negatively. They became upset and disapproving of the protest. The Eagles joined the many other high school, college, and professional sports teams across the country who are exercising their first amendment right at games. Every team in the NFL has partaken in some sort of protest in the past two weeks. They locked arms, took their knees, and one player even kept going through his pre-game stretching during the song.

 “We protested on Friday because of the racial inequality and social injustice that people face everyday,” explained junior Melanie Battle. From there, the protests didn’t stop. During the next game against McDonough, not only did the protests continue, but members of the JV team also took a knee during the national anthem. “I feel like a lot of people don’t know what it’s about. They think we’re disrespecting the military, but we’re not. We’re standing up for Black people,” remarked sophomore Simone McCarter.

The Eagles plan to keep kneeling for the rest of the season. Motivated by change, the volleyball team is doing something that many athletes across the country are either too afraid or not allowed to do. They are taking advantage of an opportunity to stand for something that they truly believe in and protest against an issue that they feel is very prevalent in America. By taking a knee, members of the volleyball team are standing up for a cause that means so much to so many Americans. One man has even sacrificed his career for it. This has now become about much more than just sports.