As students walk through the halls of Foran High School, they may look around and see other students wearing dress shirts and ties, dresses and skirts or a signature red, white and blue uniform. For many of Foran’s sports teams, dressing up at school the day of a game is just one of the many traditions connecting team members to one another.
Sports traditions connect current and past athletes and bring teammates closer. From newer traditions to rituals that have been around since the beginning, each sports team at Foran High School has something that brings the students together.
Getting into a huddle and cheering is a tradition that all sports teams at Foran share. A popular cheer for the lions is “Foran on three, One…Two…Three, Foran!” Getting in a huddle helps a team be more cohesive. Coaches may go over game tactics, and captains may say some motivational words to get the team thinking better or more fired up.
There are many traditions that are shared by multiple sports teams such as pasta parties, decorating lockers, and dressing up the day of a game. Pasta parties help bring the team together to bond before the team has a game or meet. Sophomore Joe Meade explains what the boys cross country team does at their pasta parties.
Meade states, “We eat pasta, hangout and do bonding games like volleyball.”
In addition to pasta parties, the girls and boys cross country teams have a special tradition they do every year.
“Every year for the last practice, we will do man hunt or hide and seek in Halloween costumes,” Meade says. The athletes have fun with this tradition and usually dress up in all different kinds of costumes.
Dressing up for Halloween is a tradition that the girls soccer team also participates in. One day close to the end of the season, the girls dress up and get to play different games during practice. Junior Haley Moger shares about the fun practice.
“Last year, the different grades decided on a theme that they wore to the practice. For example, the sophomores dressed up as Adam Sandlers.”
The girls soccer team also has a car wash that they do every year. The car wash helps the team raise money for their end of the year banquet and other things.
Community members pay for their car to be washed and “some people hose the cars with water and some people wash them,” says Moger.
“Getting in a huddle and chanting helps intimidate the other team,” says boys soccer senior Nathan Slowly. Slowly also explained that their senior captain Gianni Troia usually gives a motivational speech to the team at half-time.
The cheerleading team has a special pre-season tradition helping them get ready for football season. The cheerleaders decorate their crates that they stand on during football games. Katelyn Vitaletti and Alexandra Montero explained how painting crates works.
They shared that underclassmen paint their crates red and upperclassmen paint their crates blue. They are creative and unique with what they paint on their crates. Many opt to paint their names, graduation year, paws and other school spirit designs.
“Painting the crates is a fun and creative way for our team to bond,” says Vitaletti.
One tradition that the girls swim and dive team does every year is raise money for Lion Heart.
Lion Heart is an organization through the Yale New Haven Hospital that helps find a cure for breast cancer. The swim and dive team raises money and has a lap-a-thon they do with the Jonathan Law High School swim and dive team.
Junior Amy Lahav says, “It’s fun! We get to eat food and hang out with Law.”
After every practice, the girls volleyball team plays a game called “Short Court.” Junior Lila Tarczali explains how the game works.
“We usually get into teams of three or doubles. We play a game of volleyball in a beach volleyball form. Whoever wins the game doesn’t have to run around the gym.”
This tradition helps bring the team together and makes them more cohesive.
The Foran football team has lots of traditions that they do as a team.
Junior Constantino Pavlat’s favorite tradition is called “Bury the Ball.”
“The seniors get together and bury a football somewhere, kind of like a time capsule.” The seniors are able to sign or leave messages on the ball before they bury it.
One important tradition that every team shares is going up against rival high school Jonathan Law. The rivalry between the two creates a fun environment to play in and brings out competitiveness in all the student athletes.
Every season is a new season to carry on traditions from the past. The traditions of each team bring the team together and create a family within.