Instead of “Quiet, please,” at a college tennis match, fans may be bewildered to hear, “Let me hear you scream!” The NCAA has been giving tennis a makeover in recent years with controversial changes meant to boost the game’s appeal. Last year, in perhaps the most divisive rule change of them all, the Big 12 conference announced that it would allow spectators at men’s matches to make “non-abusive disruptions” during points.

Cheering and heckling during points? That’s sacrilegious. Or is it?

Some people prefer to leave the game alone—it’s hard to escape tennis’ deeply rooted tradition. But if tennis has any pipe dreams of keeping up with moneymakers such as basketball and football, the right to make noise is a step in the right direction. If a freshman can handle an arena of screaming fans while making a free throw in the final seconds of an NCAA Championship game, why can’t a tennis player cope with cheering during a break point?

Tom Perrotta of The Wall Street Journal explored this topic firsthand at Baylor when the men’s team hosted Oklahoma in April. Baylor has one of the most annoying crowds in the nation—I still remember them from when I played at UCLA and the University of Missouri. It’s not the number of fans at Baylor that’s tough to deal with; it’s their persistence. When I played against the Bears, a fan engaged in long-winded, synchronized chants with her friend—who was wearing a fuzzy bear hand puppet—across the length of the court. They did this in between every single point, even if it was a double fault, and even when the Bears were up big. I wanted to rip the puppet off his hand and burn it.

Hand puppet aside, Baylor had an electric atmosphere because of its diehard fans. Big crowds at tennis matches are unheard of for the most part, but that could change if this new policy catches on. The NCAA’s goal is to make the sport more fan and TV-friendly. The easiest way to do this is to endorse a good time; fun breeds happy customers. Free T-shirts and pizza aren’t cutting it—fans demand performers, cheerleaders, kiss cams, DJ’s and T-shirt guns to keep them engaged. The NCAA can give fans something for free: The right to cheer.

But all this noise could still have a cost. There’s a delicate balance between good-natured disruption and harmful abuse. Constant commotion will irk traditional tennis fans that prefer polite silence, and no one wants to see Bud Light-induced frat boys maliciously heckling courtside for hours. The intimacy of campus tennis centers allows fans to be up close, and that proximity can turn detrimental if the freedom of cheering goes rogue.

Yet every time my team went to play at a school known for having an unruly crowd, there was a palpable buzz in the air. It was exciting to compete in front of more than the usual 20 half-interested parents and roommates, and the challenge came in not cracking under the pressure of hecklers. Whatever resentment we had harbored for the opposing fans was kept inside in a unified, stubborn silence.

Dealing with opposition can teach invaluable lessons about mental strength. Tennis, and being a student-athlete, is hard enough without having strangers screaming at you during a shot. But playing—and cheering—in a packed, rocking stadium will always be more fun than hearing scattered, polite claps from a half-empty bleacher. Having more fans engage with the game makes it more fun for the players, too, and makes the potential downsides worth it.

Associate editor Nina Pantic is a former NCAA Division I tennis player.