By Margaret Doyle
Sentry Staff Reporter
“Patriot pride” echoes throughout the school hallways. On game days, student athletes have long shown their school spirit by donning wacky ensembles, all involving a common theme like farm animals or ninjas. Unfortunately, these well-intentioned and seemingly harmless spirit days have recently incited conflict, forcing restrictions on athletes’ creative dress up ideas.
This spirit day dress code has both costs and benefits. While it seems a shame to lose the fun of dressing up, student athletes do save the time they would have otherwise spent on piecing together a costume the night before a game.
In the past, one might show up at school on a Monday and see about a dozen team members decked out in camouflage. The next day, several girls from another squad are sporting saggy pants and pinnies, mimicking the stereotypical “lax bro.” The act of being a little goofy would accomplish a few things for a team. Costumed players raise awareness for the upcoming game. Teammates bond together in possible mutual humiliation. Finally, the players attract amused looks in the hallways.
The point of spirit days is to have fun. Formerly, athletes were free to make memories and reminisce about “the one time I dressed up as a cat” and not give it a second thought. However, this is beginning to change. Fewer sports teams are dressing up. Captains are feeling confined to a strict dress code. A few of the unwritten rules are as follows: No camouflage. Nothing that could imply war or violence, in any way, or that causes other teams to fear for their physical safety. No outfits that target a specific social or ethnic group. Oh yeah, and no animal costumes.
The few spirit day adornments that are still permitted are the simple ones. Teams can dress up formally for game days or coat themselves in a certain color. The field hockey team is permitted to do their signature “Do it for America” day, and the cheerleading team still has a “bro” day and a “decades” day every once in a while. While most themes are innocent and therefore permitted, those that are usually reserved for games against a big rival are best to be forgotten. Examples are “army day,” “cowboys and Indians day,” “ninja day” and “hunter and prey day.”
What is the reason for the restriction of some good-spirited fun and laughs? The answer is simple: to avoid potential conflict with other school’s teams. No squad wants to be challenged about dressing up in camouflage on the day before their first round of regionals and risk a forfeit. At the varsity level of sports, it is all about winning, and if this means that a team has to sacrifice a few fun dress up days, so be it.
To me, however, this is all getting out of hand. If a team has to be wary on every game day about having their spirit day attire deemed as “inappropriate,” then you know that things are getting a little ridiculous. Spirit days are meant to lighten the mood, not be risky. Student athletes should be able to walk freely throughout the hallways with a painted face on select days, not hold their breath in dread of being subject to punishment.
Unfortunately, now more than ever in this hyper-competitive region, some rival teams are all too ready to register a complaint about the “tone” of their competitor’s spirit day. If rival teams are willing to try to put an opposing captain on the bench because of a supposed spirit day scare, it is best to play it safe.
Such saboteurs are not going to go away any time soon, so student athletes may just have to survive on dwindling spirit days. There is an upside to this, though. Having fewer spirit days just makes each one even more special. While doing a “white out” or a “blue out” for a game may not be as entertaining as dressing up as a farm animal, it has the same effect.
For anyone who has ever been on teams that would dress up in ridiculous outfits for all of their games (at least twice a week), these spirit day restrictions are surprisingly welcome. I, for one, will not miss having to fish around for pig ears the night before a game, or rush out to CVS 30 minutes before school searching for face paint.
While this spirit day dress code may seem unnecessary, it keeps teams out of trouble and saves time for the busy student-athlete. After all, it is better to be safe than to be benched.