Whether wacky or common, local high schools’ squads need a rallying cry.
2009-12-04 Rich Sanders, Connection Newspaper
When Phil Tiller’s Oakton High cross country teams break out the brilliant gold warm-up jackets, it’s more than just a little bit special. The nifty, pre-race gold tops – actually, a brilliant yellow – carry the school name, Oakton, etched on the back in large burgundy letters. They are worn annually, along with black warm-up pants, only at the start of the postseason, starting at districts and on through states. The tradition began in 1998 when Oakton running legend Jim Hill, a former state cross country champion for the Cougars in the 1970s, gifted the warm-ups, both tops and bottoms, to Tiller and the Oakton team. Sure enough, the Oakton boys captured the state title, their second straight, that first year in which they showcased the warm-ups. Since then, Oakton runners have sported the warm-ups every year for the autumn’s most important late season meets. Tiller hands the jackets and pants out to his top runners the week prior to the start of districts. And ultimately, a few weeks later when the season is completed, the Oakton athletes reluctantly have to give the warm-ups back to the coach. They are not for the runners to keep, but a tangible symbol of inspiration for the program’s use from year to year. "Jim Hill has been a friend to the Oakton program for years," said Tiller. "The warm-ups are an awesome thing. They get to wear those gold jackets and that’s a huge deal to them. They wear them with great pride. I kind of think of Jim as a founding father of the team." The high school experience is all about learning and forging relationships – whether in the classroom during the school day, or as part of the after school math or Spanish clubs, or out on the athletic fields of play as part of a school sponsored team. One of the most vital benefits of the teenage years spent in high school is learning how to bond with fellow students. In athletics, such bonding can sometimes become engrained as part of a team’s sports ritual. Often, on game days, high school sports teams have their own pre-contest rituals to bring them closer together and get them emotionally charged. Participation in sports teaches unity and trust, and one way of exhibiting these positive traits is for teams to observe a rallying cry of sorts. It can be anything from attiring gleaming, new warm-ups for the postseason, to girls’ softball teams singing in unison from their dugouts during games, to teams gathering in a huddle moments prior to the start of action and screaming, `victory, victory,’ together. High school sports is an emotionally charged endeavor and teams seek to release that pent up energy in a positive, constructive way to relieve the building nervous tension before an opening kickoff, first pitch or start of a race.