When was the last time you shouted “Defense!” at a game or tried to start a chant? What about heckling the referee on a missed call? I was sad when there wasn’t much of that during Trinity’s recent homecoming football victory on Sept. 13. I did not see a single “Paws up” hand gesture from the crowd. Turnout has never been an issue in all the games I’ve attended, but the amount of face-painted shouting, costume-donning fans are few and far between. The lack of Tiger spirit exuding from the crowd has been a trend from all the games I’ve attended since transferring to Trinity last fall, which tells me that fan culture here is on the decline, or just non-existent.
Many lively traditions at sporting events started during Trinity’s days as a Division I school, and the Sperm Squad was perhaps the most notorious of them. A group of men would dress in white and storm the field at halftime of the annual homecoming football game. The tradition lasted only 16 years, and not many traditions have caused a stir or stuck around since. Traditions outside of Trinity’s sports cultures have also died out (What ever happened to the beanies anyway?), and it’s hard not to be upset about it. Being a Trinity student is something I take a lot of pride in, and I want it to show when I attend sporting events.
Martha Cervantes, senior human resources management and marketing double-major, has been part of the cheerleading team for her entire Trinity career. Cervantes said that although people are interested to see how the teams are performing, there has not been much energy among Tiger fans aside from when the teams score.
“Whenever we do the cheers, nobody cheers with us,” Cervantes said. “Like, it’s just us yelling, which is kind of sad honestly, because we think the cheers we do are pretty easy, like ‘Let’s go, Tigers!’ That’s something everybody could join [in] on, which would be great if the fans did that, because I feel like that would raise how loud the energy will [be]. I even think the players would like that.”
The crowd energy has been mostly tame from all the games I’ve attended. Filling up the stands should be no problem, especially since students can attend the games for free.
“We have the people,” Cervantes said. “It’s just a matter of getting that school spirit in.”
Cervantes said she wants students to be less shy about cheering and encourages them to set the example to display their Tiger pride.
“People will follow you. If you start screaming ‘Defense,’ you’re not going to be the only one. People will scream with you, and for the cheerleaders, I can tell you, if a fan starts screaming ‘Defense’, we’ll join him or her. We’ll help to create this spirit, this energy, to have everybody collectively cheering for our team. So, I’d say don’t be shy … We’ll be there leading, so join us too. Join us in the cheers. It would be awesome.”
As a Division III school, Trinity does not have a student population as big as Division I schools like the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) or Texas State University (TSU). Since Trinity is a small liberal arts college, student athletics aren’t as emphasized as much as at large state universities. Thus, students are not as inclined to engage in the fanatic culture at games and would rather allocate their energy and Tiger pride towards their academics.
Despite this, not every university houses programs for sports like football or baseball. Some Division I schools, for example, even had to abruptly shut down their baseball programs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We shouldn’t take our sports programs for granted, especially if they’ve been making frequent playoffs and tournaments appearances. It’s hard to imagine what the reaction would be if one of our sports programs had to suddenly shut down. Having a program like football allows us students to partake in tailgating, a traditional gathering that gives the game of football its charm. Such a tradition illustrates that team spirit extends beyond the game itself, and Trinity has a lot of that to offer with other sports programs as well.
Fan culture will always continue to shift as students will show school spirit in other ways not pertaining to sports, like the semesterly Student Involvement Fair. Greek life, for instance, has a strong presence on campus with Bid Day being their biggest event for new recruits. Students involved with a sorority or fraternity — or any particular extracurricular, really — show their pride by sporting a shirt of their respective organization.
Having hefty commitments in Trinity organizations along with a rigorous academic workload can be exhausting and time-consuming, but that shouldn’t stop us Tigers from roaring our school spirit at the games. LeeRoy might cry if he doesn’t see any of us proudly singing our fight song after each win.
If our teams are bringing the energy on the field, we should be bringing that same energy in the stands, too. The cheerleaders can’t be the only ones cheering, so let’s make some noise for our fellow Tigers. While we’re at it, maybe bring back the Sperm Squad, too.
