SACRAMENTO, CA ― Women’s sports has its own community that is supportive of one another.
Ernestine Balisi got a feel for what the community is like just before tip-off of the NCAA Women’s Tournament Elite Eight matchup between UCLA and Duke at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.
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Balisi is a singer and on Sunday she was selected to perform the national anthem before the game, something she’s done time and time again since 2016. Sunday was her first performance of the anthem at the Golden 1 Center.
Her first time didn’t start all too well. Balisi experienced an audio malfunction early on, and throughout the majority of her performance. She was singing, the March Madness fans could hear her on the floor, but her voice wasn’t heard from the speaker system.
What happened next was a beautiful display of American patriotism.
The attendees who filled up the Golden 1 Center, understanding the moment, took it upon themselves to cover the arena’s audio issues and sing along with Balisi.
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“I loved it when the fans sang with me,” Balisi told USA TODAY Sports. “That was just like, truly inspiring. And honestly, I’m glad that everyone knows the words, because, you know that’s what happens. But like, it’s just great whenever people sing along with me.”
Performing in front of thousands can be nerve-wracking. Audio difficulties outside of your control is another story.
“I had mixed emotions,” Balisi said. “So honestly, I was like, ‘OK, should I stop? What should I do?’ But at the same time, once I started hearing people sing with me, I was like, well, gotta keep going and go make the show go on. … I know that the fans are not here for me, so, that’s why it’s like, just get the song done. At that point you got a minute and 17, just finish it. Thankfully they gave me the other microphone with the wire so that I can finish.”
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It’s not the first time that fans have joined in on the song. Balisi regularly performs at the SAP Center before San Jose Sharks games, where fans sing along all the time, she said, and they especially sing the Canadian national anthem in the Bay.
It also happened once while performing the anthem before a Sacramento Republic game. But the crowd at Golden 1 Center wasn’t bad by any stretch.
“That’s why I was just like, we’re going to keep going it,” Balisi said. “They’re at least the same key and the same tempo, you know? I’ll take that. They heard my pitch. Let’s go. … They were great.”
She added: “Honestly, I was glad that they didn’t boo me or anything, and they just let me go like I’m gonna support you. And I’m like, ‘Thank God,’ you know? … It could be embarrassing, so at least they let me keep going.”
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Fans weren’t going to allow her to fail. In women’s sports, they uplift each other. That’s what the game is all about.
Sacramento native and Berkeley resident Raya Hazini always sings the national anthem during sporting events, so when the incident before Sunday’s Elite Eight game happened she continued to do what she always naturally does.
“As a player in college, I sang,” she told USA TODAY. “So I just yelled, ‘let’s sing.’ And my section was, it’s 125, 126, we started singing, and then everything else started going.”
Los Angeles native-turned-Discovery Bay resident Nate Rubin sported his UCLA gear as he took in the national anthem moment. He didn’t sing, saying he’s not that good, but he felt pride in his country after the moment.
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“I thought it was awesome. In a time when the country is very divided, to have everybody help the singer with her mic, going out and sing the national anthem. I thought it was great,” Rubin said. “You could tell she was appreciative of it. It could have been an embarrassing moment, and everybody picked her up. It’s nice to see when we’re all together. I wish there was more of it. I think we agree more than we disagree, but at least we got to see it in person today, which was awesome.”
Clifford Winston was among those who joined in the moment.
“I got up and started singing. Few people around me wasn’t singing,” Winston said. “I thought ‘this is awesome,’ it was flat-out awesome, so I started singing, too.”
That’s what sports is all about.
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“It’s just like in the NBA, Maurice Cheeks was a coach when (a singer) forgot the words and and he went up and hugged her and sang, it’s just the community,” Hazini recalled. “The game is win or loss, but everybody here is just a community. So we raise people up. And I thought that’s what Sac is about. Sactown is about community.”
She added: “Women’s sports has been on the margins forever and since Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers and all the greats (emerged), you know, the community, women’s sports community, is very strong, and we’re always raising people up. We’re not trying to marginalize because we are marginalized already. We’re going to keep going and we raise up. And you saw it today.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Faulty mic keys uplifting, patriotic moment before Elite Eight game
