Many schools all the over the United States have unique sports traditions that are similar to the high school.
For instance, at C.E Jordan High School in Durham, North Carolina, their marching band takes the field at half time in halloween costumes, a tradition that started in the 1980s when homecoming fell on halloween. Even though homecoming is not always on halloween for Jordan High, the costumes are always worn during the homecoming game.
At Cupertino High School in Cupertino, California, the water polo teams catches everyone by surprise. After their king and queen are crowned at half time, the team runs to the corner of the stadium and across the field in nothing but speedos.
West Stokes High School in King, North Carolina, has their cheerleaders do pushups for every point on the scoreboard after a touchdown. They also throw peanuts and stuffed footballs to make the crowd “Go nuts for the Cats” during boring parts of the game.
A more local school, Hudson High School, also has some unique traditions.
Before each game there is a pasta dinner for the team.
When the Explorers score a touchdown, children ring the “Explorer bell.”
At the end of the season, flag boys pick the “super-fans” for next year. Explorer girls paint letters and then at the end give them away to an upcoming senior.
Another high school, Archbishop Hoban, has a quite interesting tradition.
Before Hoban plays their rival, St. Vincent-St. Mary, they spend their entire school day in complete silence. The night before that, all of the seniors stay overnight and decorate the school.
This became known as Mum Day, and it has been happening for over 50 years. It started in 1962 when Student Council wanted to do something to increase spirit, and ever since then, it stuck.
They also have a collection of cheers to do during their game, and they do spirit fingers before kickoff.
Hoban senior Emily Dunn said, “I love the traditions we have at Hoban. It unifies us as a student body and really builds spirit no matter what the scoreboard says.”
The high school does an especially good job on keeping the entire school unified before and after the games.
Student Council kept the student body involved on picking the spirit day themes for homecoming week by tweeting out ideas.
The school organized a Davenport Derby and holds a homecoming festival filled with a parade, food trucks and games.
The band drum line plays cadences every day after school during homecoming week in a different location each day.
On other Fridays besides homecoming, sometimes there is a tailgate beforehand. There are always cadences held on Fridays near the auditorium.
Homecoming game or not, there is always something going on before football games.
During the football games, the student section chants multiple cheers, and they jump up and down on the bleachers before kickoff, much like Hoban does spirit fingers.
When the team scores, a senior boy does as many push ups as there are points on the board. This is extremely similar to the way the West Stokes High School cheerleaders do push ups.
The senior girls and boys are the only ones who lack a spot on the bleachers because they stand along the fence. They also paint letters on to themselves, much like Hudson, even though this is against dress code.
“Certain traditions exist that we try to honor. I would never debate with [these traditions]. Because it is tradition it is acceptable,” Principal DiMaruo said.
Many schools have traditions that are similar to others and some that are unique. Either way, no matter the location, all schools hold one thing in common- the unity to their team and to each other.