The Bark analyzed available records for varsity volleyball, football, soccer, baseball, basketball, softball, and lacrosse teams from the 2007-2008 through 2011-2012 seasons to compare home and away records. Winning percentages were calculated for each to reflect the percentage of games won both at home and away.

Many athletes know that the roar of a crowd and the familiarity of a home field trumps opponents’ booing on foreign turf. But is there really such a thing as a home field advantage?

Recently, statistical studies have confirmed that in many major sports leagues including the MLB, NBA, NFL – a “home field advantage” is indeed more fact than fiction.

Apparently, a vast majority of Redwood sports teams experience the phenomenon of a home-field advantage, as well.

Eight of the 11 boys’ and girls’ varsity sports whose records were compared had home records that were significantly better than their away records. The average home winning percentage was 64.5 percent, while the average away winning percentage was 50 percent.

In general, season records indicate that boys’ teams benefit more from a home field advantage than girls’ teams do – boys’ soccer, football, and basketball have the three largest differences between home and away records.

While girls’ basketball has a barely noticeable difference between home and away records, boys’ basketball has the second highest difference, with a winning percentage 22 percent higher at home than for away games.

The trend could be a result of varying levels of fan support, according to physical education teacher Mike Dibley.

“In basketball, the girls play first and then the boys,” he said. “Most student fans don’t arrive until the end of the girls’ game and the beginning of the boys’ game. So a boy would be playing in front of hundreds – if not maybe even a thousand on a big game like against Marin Catholic. Whereas the girls, no matter who it is or where it is, are playing in front of less than a hundred fans.”

Varsity soccer captain Will Finnie said the presence of fans also makes a noticeable difference at soccer games.

“In those games where we get fans out – for me personally as a goalie – my game feeds off the energy of my team and the people in the crowd,” Finnie said. “It makes a big difference for us as a team to know we have fans behind us.”

According to Finnie, soccer players also benefit greatly from playing on familiar grounds because variations in field dimensions and playing surface.

“Being at home and being on a field you know the dimensions of and you play on every day makes a huge difference in our confidence,” Finnie said. “I think there is something to be said for not having to drive to a game, or being able to just have a routine playing at home. We always do the same things for home games, but for away games you have to change at different spots. It’s just those little things that add up and make it a lot easier.”

For boys’ varsity soccer, the winning percentage at home was over three times higher than on the road. Over the past five seasons (excluding the 2012-2013 season) the team won 60 percent of home games, and only 18 percent of away games.

Out of the teams analyzed, girls’ sports’ home winning percentages exceeded their away winning percentages by an average of 7.5 percent, while boys’ teams averaged with home records 19.5 percent higher than away.

The only sport that reverses this trend is lacrosse. The girls’ lacrosse team’s home winning percentage was 11 percent higher than its away winning percentage, while boys’ lacrosse is one of the two sports with a slightly better away record.

According to varsity lacrosse captain Briton Barge, playing games away from home actually helps the team focus.

“When you play at home, you’re in the same setting you are every day and it’s normal,” Barge said. “When you’re playing away, you get on a bus and it feels more like game day. You have a lot more time to focus on playing the game.”

According to Dibley, the discrepancy between home and away winning percentages is partly due to how often certain Redwood sports qualify for MCAL and NCS playoffs.

“I’d argue that a lot of our teams get pretty high seeds, but not number one necessarily,” he said. “So we’ll get to win at home in the playoffs for the first round and then go on the road for the second or semis and end up losing.”

Chace Schornstein, who has played varsity basketball and soccer since her freshman year, said that there is a definite difference in playing home games for either sport.

While girls’ basketball wins three percent more games at home than away, girls’ soccer wins one percent more games away than at home.

“For basketball, you play in the gym all the time – you basically live there in the winter,” Schornstein said. “Since it’s a gym, when fans do come they’re more into the game because they’re closer to the court so everyone is more interactive. It just makes it seem more of a community. For girls’ soccer, we don’t practice as much so you can’t become super familiar with the field. We play two times a week and have two games – maybe they’re at home, maybe they’re away. The boys’ team doesn’t play in the same season, so it’s not the whole soccer environment that would make you more comfortable.”

According to Barge, playing on foreign turf contributes to a winning mentality.

“It also has a lot to do with pride,” Barge said. “It feels really good when you go beat somebody at their home field, because you don’t want anybody beating you at home.”