“We always go on a Walmart run down at state and buy random stuff.”
-Kya Collier
The sport programs cycle is winding down as summer approaches. The JV and varsity teams all have different rituals that amp up their school spirit and get them ready for their competitions.
Players from all sports were asked what they consider to be traditions they couldn’t have a season without. They were also asked about the general atmosphere of their team such as what activities they do on and off the field and what they do during andafter practice.
Photos by and courtesy of: Nora Wood, Clarice Krzysik, Caroline Bowater, Paige Wilder, Alex Roka & Coach Lawrence
“Who ever is about to go up to bat plays 15 seconds of a song they choose to walk up to, like our own theme song.” – Sarah Dandorph“After a good day of hard work we like to go get a bite to eat at Portillo’s or Culver’s. There we just discuss new tricks, what’s going on with everyone, and most importantly have fun. This really builds up our team spirit and confidence that our teammates got our back.” – David Molfe“Every year the distance guys play a game called “abduction”. It is a great way to bond and it brings our slowest and fastest guys together as one.”“We all yell Sniop, it has been a Hinsdale Central tennis tradition for years.” – Ryan Biegansky“Whenever someone misses a serve and it goes under the net, they have to buy a box of donuts for the team.” – Sam Blankenburgs“The music in the field house doesn’t have aux so we have to listen to the same old songs that are on the CDs, one of them is Miley Cyrus.” – Grace Kennedy“I’m going to be be honest, we don’t have a team tradition. At beginning of games we count ‘1, 2, 3 Devils!’ and we all cheer.” – Antonia Ioannou“We don’t really have special traditions before games but one thing we do every year is we play big green. Big green is where our soccer coach organizes senior boys from his class and they’re boys that don’t play soccer but boys that play football, lacrosse, or any other sport. He makes a big team out of them and they all volunteer their time to come early in the morning to play us. It’s really fun and special.” – Abbie Gaffney“We do this thing called to ‘win the line’ which means to stand at the line until the other team leaves after the national anthem.” – Will DeDobbelaere“We don’t have many rituals, but we do listen to rap music in order to get hype and have a “breakdown” before we start a game.” – Scottie Spinazola“We always get ribbons before games and have a new kind each game. Pasta parties are the best. We have them the day before and game and we all eat together and have fun.” – Sydney Collignon“We get the whole team together and one person gives a hype speech to get the team going, then after we listen to a lot of hype music.” – Sean Palm
