Niskayuna Football Players Kneel During National Anthem
Protests and demonstrations during the National Anthem have made their way to the Capital Region and high school football in Section 2. On Thursday night, some players on the Niskayuna football team and one cheerleader took a knee prior to kick off of the game against Guilderland.
The team met on Wednesday to talk about how to handle the pregame moments, particularly the National Anthem. Out of that meeting came a decision to link arms while standing, but players were not discouraged from kneeling if they felt passionately enough to do so.
This is an incredibly divisive topic to which we will never reach a consensus. There is great emotion attached to the National Anthem, our brave military men and women and the social justice movement. To help clear up why Niskayuna players did what they did, head coach Brian Grastorf joined Big Board Sports.