By BRENDAN HALL
With the football season at a close, students on campus should continue the school spirit, camaraderie and athletic support that is so fervent early in the year.
Continuing to show support for teams has numerous benefits; it builds and maintains school spirit, encourages and builds hype for all sports on campus and provides students with a place to have a good time and meet new people.
The varsity football season is filled with activities and rituals that fire up the campus, from Orange and White Day every Friday to Braves Brawl, even senior snakes focused on the football game
that night. Yet, once the season ends, many of these events disappear, and the energy and spirit that drives them becomes lackluster at best.
There is no reason why these staples in tradition should not be involved with every sport. It is unfair to only have pep rallies or promote orange and white day during the football season because there are so many other teams on campus that do well. Every year girls water polo is a serious contender, with their biggest match against rival Winter Park, whose coach is the husband of the Lady Brave’s coach Rosalie Creighton. It would do wonders for the school and the team to have a pep rally before this game to get the team fired up, seeing as they have never
beaten Winter Park.
During the transition into winter sports such as soccer, basketball, wrestling, and girls weightlifting, students need to challenge each other to carry the excitement of the football season through the year. It is no secret that the football team is the school’s biggest athletic cash cow and thus gets more support, but other sports on campus could generate just as much vivaciousness and spirit if the students and faculty were willing to encourage it.
School spirit is contagious; it can start with only a couple students dressing up and building excitement, and in no time the entire school is in anticipation for a big game. When energy that surrounds sports flows through the campus, a more exciting dimension is added and students have a more enjoyable time at school. Students are able to unite on the common ground of school spirit and pride, which is a very powerful medium. The electricity emitting from a student body energized by school spirit is a powerful event to witness and feel.
Athletic events are also an extremely convenient outlet in which students can come together and escape from the
stresses of things such as school or work. With several events occurring every night, usually one on campus, students can both show support for whatever sport they are attending and socialize with friends. Even better, students can meet up with friends from other schools whose athletic teams might be playing an away game on campus.
Students come up with countless excuses to not go, from homework to the cost of games, even to the weather for outdoor games. All of these can be solved easily with a little planning. First off, every student should purchase a Boone Booster card. For simply 15 dollars, students gain attendance into any game, free of charge, and get discounts at numerous places around Orlando. Even if a student attends only two or three games of any sport during the course of the year, he or she has broken even. To solve the other two issues, a student should plan a night in which he or she wants to attend a game, a few days or even a week or two ahead of time. The idea is not to attend every game a person can, but rather make a conscious effort to support the school and athletic teams. It can almost be thought of as community service, or rather a service to the school.
It is imperative that all students vault school spirit higher on their list of priorities during the winter and spring season. It would do wonders for the atmosphere of the school and student athletes would undoubtedly appreciate the support. It is important that students keep school spirit in the backs of their minds and continue getting fired up for all athletics.