Secret to Zebra Spirit? Darkness

Since most teams compete during the same afternoons, at around the same times, students find it difficult to cheer on their friends. To Bennett Smith ’19, co-head of the Spirit Committee, that wasn’t very spirited. The idea to request night games crystallized after a friend at a day school sent Bennett a photo of a night game with packed stands and frenzied fans. “Why don’t we have that?” Bennett wondered.  

 

When he asked Groton’s athletic director about night games, he was sent to the school’s scheduling committee. Bennett presented a formal proposal to the committee, resulting in the recent night games: boys varsity hockey on December 1 against Deerfield Academy, and boys and girls varsity basketball on December 8 against Lawrence Academy.

 

“I made the argument that we support one another in our academic assignments, we support each other socially, but we aren’t able to support each other in sports—just because of the timing of our games,” Bennett said. Soccer games against archrival St. Mark’s were scheduled for nighttime in the fall, but moved off-campus during the afternoon due to field conditions.

 

Spirit Committee Co-head Amy Lu ’19 said she still remembers the fun of a girls soccer night game during her Third Form year. “It was the biggest turnout,” she said. With winter weather keeping people indoors more, "activities usually were limited to something off-campus or a big thing," she said. "We didn't have as many activities that were easy to go to." The Spirit Committee heads were determined to change that. Their efforts paid off not only by adding night games to the athletic schedule, but by increasing enthusiasm exponentially. At all three games, bleachers were packed and fans were raucous.

 

The darkness outside alone did not generate all that enthusiasm. Under the guidance of Amy, Bennett, and Director of Student Activities Tim Leroy, and with support of the Athletic Department and the Spirit and Student Activities Committees, the night games became major events. The students decided to encourage costumes at school on game days to add to the hype, and also opted to serve food. “Food’s always the answer,” said Bennett.

 

For the first game, students got in the spirit by dressing in . . .  black. At the game they enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies. The two-fer of boys and girls basketball had a holiday theme: students were allowed to dress down for Saturday classes as long as they dressed in holiday garb. Lights decorated the gym, and Santa hats sprinkled the bleachers. A food truck sat outside the Athletic Center, serving up grilled cheese sandwiches.

 

On both game nights, students and faculty left the Athletic Center buoyed by the hoopla. With this kind of excitement, it doesn’t matter if you win or lose . . . it’s what time you play the game.