Many fall sports seasons are rapidly coming to a close. The sports teams at MA; whether it is on or off a court or field have specific traditions or ways they bond together. Being on a sports team means you spend a lot of time with your teammates, and it is important to gel with them while having as much fun as possible.
“At the start of a game we do our dance circle with music blasting, and I love it because it gets everyone energized and pumped up,” said varsity girls soccer captain Gabrielle Wamre.
The girls soccer team has many ways they connect as a team, such as a sleepover where the girls split up into two teams and create fun dances and post them on Instagram. The boys varsity team also participates in overnight activities.
“We’ve gone up to a cabin spending the night there playing games or fighting and swimming,” said boys varsity captain Evan Paton.
Captains on the boys team also wanted to implement more traditions and ways to stay connected as a team.
“One thing that we wish to add to our soccer team to further the connection even if the season has already ended is a movie marathon, where we watch movies from many genres in one night,” Paton said.“All things to help our team stay more cohesive, fun, loving, and uplifting.”
A tradition can be as simple as dancing, or singing before a game. Other teams enjoy doing some activities that are more complex and involve more planning.
“One of my favorite cross country traditions is the annual Nike Regional XC meet in Sioux Falls, South Dakota,” girls cross country captain Berit Calvin said.
The Nike race is not affiliated with the school so the team gets to go without coaches. During their stay in South Dakota the team goes swimming in the hotel pool, they play video games late at night, and get dinner from Olive Garden.
“The night we get there, the captains reveal the fun uniforms, which are normally pretty weird, that we will race in the next morning,” Calvin said.
There are definitely many other traditions and activities that these sports teams at MA enjoy doing, but these are just some of the few that the captains have shared. Being on a team allows you to meet new people and create deep friendships, it brings a sense of community and belonging to many people.