AR: “We say shuttle-, you say -cock”
MV Badminton Team: “Shuttle, cock, shuttle, cock, Go MV!”
EY: Prior to each match, senior and badminton team captain Advait Ramakrishnan leads the team in a short chant. Although he does not remember when and who started this specific chant, he recalls it being done ever since he joined the team in his freshman year.
AR: We try cheering before the game to boost the morale of the team. And then during the game, while players are playing, people who are watching on the sides tend to cheer as well to try to hype the players up and get them more spirited.
EY: Jenny Chang, the mother of senior and outside hitter Elijah Kang, attends every game her son and the Boys Volleyball Team plays at. She says that her experience playing sports in high school taught her the value of cheering and motivates her to create the same special experience and environment for her son and his team.
JC: I do remember when my friends came to the games, those were really special or when an aunt would come after work to come to watch the game — those are really special. So I remember those. Until this day, I still remember them coming, so hopefully he’ll remember that, ‘Mom was at all my games and mom took part in that.’
EY: Unlike badminton and volleyball, sophomore and swimmer Elspeth Luu says that in swimming, athletes have difficulty hearing underwater. This leads the swim team to do a unique cheer which focuses on shouting ‘Go’ when a swimmer surfaces or shouting louder when they are flipping at the end of the lane.
EL: Sometimes, people cheer for you when you’re on the block, but then they have to stop when the announcer says take your mark because it has to be silent. But people also cheer for you on the far end of the wall. And they often say things like ‘Go’ and people in the water are able to hear this as they approach the wall.
EY: Chang believes she and the spectators fine-tune their cheering depending on the situation the team is in. She says that the crowd cheers harder when the team is losing to provide more encouragement to the players and help them make a comeback.
JC: When you’re losing, you want to say, ‘Just focus on one pass at a time’ so that it’s not so overwhelming. I think there’s a little bit more encouragement — words of encouragement — when we’re down. And then almost, in a way, a little bit more of desperation, when we’re like, ‘Let’s go, Matadors,’ there’s a little bit of weight behind it.
EY: Ramakrishnan agrees with Chang as he observes a noticeable difference in volume when the player is losing. He says that especially when the player is losing, cheering becomes a vital factor in the game that can either boost the player or deter their opponent.
AR: I hope they get confidence, remember it and make sure that we always have each other’s backs while we’re playing the game. I think it’s very impactful because when other teams are cheering and our team has low spirit, it really sets the tone badly and it makes it harder to play the game.
EY: Luu recalls a moment where she was on the receiving end of her teammates’ cheers and distinctly remembers the motivation and courage it gave her.
EL: When I was a freshman, I swam the 500 free, and I had never swam this event before. So when people came to cheer for me and they did the lap counting for me, since it’s a very long event, it made me feel a lot more motivated to swim faster and feel more confident to finish fast.
EY: Chang believes that cheering is a good way to bond with her son. Her son also takes part in club volleyball which requires lots of traveling. As she does with the Monta Vista Volleyball Team, she attends all of her son’s club games and considers supporting him as a good way to spend time together.
JC: There’s a lot of traveling and a lot of driving to tournaments. They just had one in San Francisco. They’re going to have one in Hillsdale. So that’s just driving time that I have undivided attention with him. It’s time spent together. And then other ways to bond is just having common things to talk about.
EY: Chang and the other volleyball parents have also formed their own community within these games, as she sees the same parents every game. Chang has come to these games since her son’s freshmen year and she and the other parents come together and cheer for the MV team every game, forming their own cheer group. Especially during Friday games, their community expands as the student body becomes part of their cheer group as well.
JC: I especially love Friday games. I love it when the student body also comes on a Friday night because it makes a difference since now there are more people on the bleachers. There’s just like a greater excitement to the evening. And then afterward, because then they hang out and go out to eat, it’s a continuation of the event.
