Court Side Seats to Anyone Who Shows Up

January 31, 2013

Photo by: Joshua Thurston

With a revised student seating plan at basketball games, students can now get closer to the action in Trojan Arena.

All you need is your Troy student I.D.

The first five rows of sections 102 through 104 will be available to students who simply present their Troy I.D. card to a Trojan Arena event staff member.

Gone is the inconvenience of taking a student ticket and being chained to the seat while your friends, who arrived later than you, are sitting in the section over from you.

“We really want to get as many students as possible in that section,” Associate Athletic Director Sandy Atkins said, “because it is right there on the floor, and hopefully they can get into the experience of the game. They can be rowdy and get loud.”

Creating an atmosphere that students can be a part of is what the Troy Athletic Department is striving to improve at basketball games.

“It puts the proximity of the students closer to the court, closer to the action and that helps build a home court advantage,” Athletic Director John Hartwell said. “We certainly want to make sure this big, beautiful arena is a home court advantage for us.”

With five games each remaining for the Troy men’s and women’s basketball, the students will be able to show their support up close and personal at the court.

“I thought the student attendance for that Arkansas State game was outstanding and as that game went down to wire in both regulation and overtime,” Hartwell said, “I really thought that our fans in general, but in particular our students, really got into the game and our team played off of the energy and at the end of the day helped us win.”

Another thing for students to keep in mind is that Troy coach Don Maestri is on the brink of history with his 497 career wins as the Trojans’ coach.

There are also the game time promotions like Milky Moo’s trivia for ice cream and shooting competitions for prizes that fans can compete for.

So by taking advantage of the students seats at Trojan Arena a fan can truly be there when it happens.