As the music built up in Cameron Indoor Stadium Nov. 3, the Duke volleyball starting lineup sprinted onto the court, stopping momentarily to throw small volleyballs into the scattered crowd. Sophomore Amiah Burgess stood in the corner with two bags full of boom sticks — large, Duke blue cylinders. When the Blue Devils attacked Clemson in the first set, Burgess traversed through the crowd, handing boom sticks to the families and children lining the bleachers. After the Blue Devils scored, the stadium erupted with cheers and the hollow noise of the boom stick, producing twice the noise expected of a crowd of 653 attendees.
On Feb. 25, Duke baseball capped off its series against Northwestern in front of 793 attendees. A week later, future Women’s College World Series participants Duke softball bested Syracuse to a crowd of 390 attendees. On Feb. 29, Duke women’s basketball defeated Virginia, playing for 2,005 attendees. The day before, the men’s team conquered Louisville in front of 9,314 attendees.
Twenty-seven of the 36 Blue Devils with individual NCAA Championship appearances were women. Ten of the 17 teams ranked in the top 25 for the 2023-24 season were women’s sports. Despite the success of female athletes and sports at Duke, they don’t often get the same crowd support as the men.
Enter Blue Crew. Founded by sophomores Burgess and Ava Littman, the club's idea was sparked by a Writing 101 final paper for the class Women, Leadership and Purpose. The question prompted Littman and Burgess to think about what they would change about Duke or anything to do with women.
The sophomore duo had two distinct answers in their papers.
“We both wrote our final papers about women’s sports. Hers was more from the perspective of an athlete, and then mine was more from the perspective of a fan,” Littman said. “It was basically just about how women could feel more comfortable in the sports space from the perspective of fans and the business perspective. One of the things [Burgess] talked about in hers was Blue Crew."
Excited about her first year as a student-athlete on the Blue Devils’ history-making softball team, Burgess was inspired by her experience.
“We knew what kind of season we were gonna have before we had even come together. So, knowing that, I was like … it’s gonna be such a good season for us, and I feel like people at Duke should experience that,” Burgess said.
But, why aren’t they?
Burgess asked and answered the same question for her paper, concluding that it wasn’t a matter of attendance but rather organization.
“[Football and basketball] have designated student sections,” Burgess said. “Everyone sits on the wooden benches, and at football you have those color-coded tickets. For women’s games, they don’t do that.”
Seeing fans at games encourages more to come. Blue Crew brings fans, posters and a sense of community. By creating a community for women’s athletes and fans of women's sports, it gives curious students and potential fans friendships between one another and the athletes they support. These friendships are the foundation of the organization, as Burgess was inspired by her own experience.
“My freshman year experience was a little bit different from a lot of student-athletes here because there were only two of us in our class … and you’re living on East Campus,” Burgess said. “So it was that isolation that was almost like, ‘we have to make other friends’ … and that was one of the best things we had ever done."
Burgess described those friends as “some of the most loyal people to show out for us.”
For Blue Crew, game day doesn’t start at kickoff or faceoff; outreach begins long before. Blue Crew coordinates with a team representative about which games they would like for the club to attend. From there, the work begins, as the club gathers materials for the game, tables at the Bryan Center Plaza and blasts out promotional materials on social media. On game day, Blue Crew comes prepared with posters, boom sticks and energy to support the athletes.
“We’re still ironing out what’s a good time to come. When will students show up? When will students leave?” Burgess said.
As of right now, Blue Crew takes two different approaches. In some games, Blue Crew organizes the student sections, getting the fans to sit together. For other ones, Blue Crew focuses more on increasing attendance, with a long term goal of consistent support.
“Once we have a consistent flow of people going to those events, it’s going to be more of the organizing size where we’re leading cheers [and] getting everyone to sit together,” Littman said.
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The future only holds bigger and better things for Blue Crew, as they continue to foster community between athletes and non-athletes. They are toying with the ideas of movie nights and open scrimmages, all with the goal of fostering community and building engagement with women’s sports on this campus.
Now, as Burgess sat in Cameron Indoor Stadium, she watched two children stumble up the steps. They paused momentarily and gazed at the Blue Crew signs scattered on the bleachers.
“Do you guys want to hold a sign up?” asked a Blue Crew member.
They nodded their heads vigorously and outstretched their hands for the “Let’s Go Duke” and the “Blue Crew at Work” signs. After the children ran up the bleachers with their posters, they turned toward the game and began screaming for Duke volleyball. As they screamed, Burgess rushed for the bag with the boom sticks and handed a pair to the children, who added to the symphony of the crowd.
Editor's note: Sophomore Ava Littman, who is a co-founder of Blue Crew, is an associate news editor of The Chronicle’s 120th volume.