Six minutes and 22 seconds into Occidental’s men’s soccer match Sept. 18, Alex Bosanac (first year) scored the first goal of his collegiate career, which ultimately became the lone goal in a 1-0 victory against the California Institute of Technology.
Crowding into the Tigers’ locker room after their win, the coaching staff handed Bosanac a little trophy for having the most composed finish. Vicente Navarro (junior) received a trophy for being the man of the match and Riley Nyhan (senior) was named defensive hero. Awarding players these three trophies is a tradition after every win, said Eddie Siladie (first year).
Pre-game, post-match and everything in between, team traditions extend to all of 21 of Occidental’s varsity teams. From team dinners to accountability systems, Siladie said these routines help the team bond. Last year, Sophia Siu (junior) said the softball team kept a stuffed tiger with them in the dugout during games.
“You hit it [the tiger] and [are] like, ‘Okay, everything from school and everything outside of softball — that’s in the past,’” Siu said. “’We’re just focused on softball now.’”
Pre-game rituals are not lacking when it comes to the women’s water polo team. In their team locker room, a whiteboard reads ‘MONSTER TEAM’ written in red and blue marker. Below it, phrases like ‘Score a goal!’ and ‘Believe in myself!’ are scribbled onto Post-it notes and taped to the board. A tradition that started last year, Ruby Vogel (junior) said writing out her goals helps clear her head and lessens pre-game pressure.
“Also seeing my teammates’ goals makes me realize, ‘Oh, shoot, I want to do that too,’” Vogel said. “So then it kind of bonds you together, because you have that shared goal, whether you both realize it or not.”
Vogel said that the team has a collaborative game-day playlist full of songs that everyone has agreed will get them hyped. But whether it’s in the locker room or during warmups before getting in the opponent’s pool, Vogel said the team speaker will pump out “World Cup” by IShowSpeed without fail.
“It’s iconic,” Vogel said. “It’s cool that we have those specific songs that make us, us.”
For men’s tennis, it’s not one song by IShowSpeed, but an hour of Imagine Dragons. In the spin room, with the doors shut and disco lights flashing, Senior Assistant Dean of Admission and Coordinator of Student Athlete Recruitment Jordan Brown ’13 leads a spin class for the team every semester. While the same artist may not play the entire time, Ronald Chen (junior) said that they never go a spin class without blasting some Imagine Dragons.
“A few years ago we had a bunch of rain to start the spring semester which meant the teams couldn’t practice on court,” Brown said via email. “In an effort to do something as a team, we thought of doing a spin class. We took song recommendations and very loosely designed a ride around them.”
Besides his work with admissions and recruitment at Occidental, Brown has spent his fair share of time on the tennis court — he is an alumnus of the program, and was Occidental’s No. 1 in doubles with partner Jeremy Shapiro ’14 in his senior year. But Brown said he does not remember any traditions during his time on the team. The spin class he now leads was originally born out of necessity, Brown said, but because of the energy that everyone brought, it has turned into something fun.
Every year, first years and sophomores on the men’s soccer team are paired with a mentor, who is a junior or senior on their team. Siladie said mentors keep their mentees in-check in various ways, making sure they are present both academically and athletically. Siladie’s mentor this year is Joshua Hamlett (junior), and Siladie said the mentor system brings the team closer on and off the field.
“[Hamlett is] always helping out. He’s always giving advice, even when he’s injured,” Siladie said. “He tutors me in chem, which is amazing.”
The softball team’s form of accountability is called ‘units,’ coined and assembled by their head coach Christine Hipa, according to Siu. Unlike the smaller pairings of the men’s soccer team, four or five softball players are grouped into a unit. Sydney Crespo (senior) said the units keep one another accountable off the field, such as making sure their teammates are on time — for practices, and especially those 6:30 a.m. lifts.
“Each unit kind of creates their own rituals, like mine texts before every lift,” Crespo said. “We all send an emoji to make sure that we’re awake.”
Crespo and Siu said they believe that getting closer with teammates outside of athletics contributes to better chemistry on the diamond.
“Once you get off-the-field close, then you’re on-the-field close,” Siu said.
Contact Emma Cho at echo2@oxy.edu
