Rah, Rah, Sis-Boom-Bah

Most MSMS students have friends back home who will miss class time for pep rallies today. MSMS cannot field a football team for obvious reasons. We don’t have enough students to field a competitive team. Students do not have enough time to practice or work on strength and conditioning. Participating in too many team sports cuts against the history and culture of the school.

The list could go on.

I did not play football past seventh grade. I chose to attend LSMSA in part because I wanted to focus on academics more than athletics. But my sons played the game, if you count being a kicker as being a football player, and they loved it.

Do MSMS students miss the spectacle of football? Is there something we can or should do to replace it here, given the mission and history of the school?

If you’re interested, here’s the link to the greatest poem ever written about football, James Wright’s 1963 classic, “Autumn Begins in Martin’s Ferry, Ohio.”

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29 Responses to Rah, Rah, Sis-Boom-Bah

  1. James says:

    As a player, miss the sports itself a lot, Friday’s we’re always a unique feeling, thinking, listing to music, it’s the only time the locker room is quiet. Looking back, it’s obvious that it was never that serious, but it the atmosphere was one before a great battle. After school, we’d go straight to the locker room, eat a light pregame meal, and then prepare. I took many “cringe” pregame photos flexing in the mirror, as did most of the team. It was part of the “getting your mind right” process. When you hit the field, you have to be focused (and it was serious to some extent, each time you stepped on the field you were risking serious injury). You don’t go onto a football field distracted, or bad things happen I think having a soccer pep rally wound be an awesome idea, kind of like a jersey handout ceremony. However, I feel like there wouldn’t be much interest in such an event.

  2. Laykin Dixon says:

    As a former cheerleader, I loved football games! I miss the aspect of Pep Rallies I liked the fun games we played like when we got to pie people in the face, seeing who could scoot across the floor the fastest using a plunger as your hands. As everyone was hyped for the football game that night.I loved to cheer at the football games and yell for my favorite team. I loved seeing all the little kids who wanted to be cheerleaders and football players. I feel as if football itself is entertaining to watch and cheering on the sidelines at football games were the best part. Also I enjoyed dressing up for the student section and just coming together as a school to watch the football games. I feel as here you can’t really have a football team because you don’t have the time to practice and get ready for the season like a normal school would. But they could have pep rallies for the soccer team!

  3. Jacob Neal says:

    I had only gone to a single high school football game in my life, I was neither a football player, band member, nor cheerleader, so I’ve never been that attached to it myself. However, I do miss the above-mentioned people, as they were very thematic and made the whole school more interesting, seeing them in their little uniforms and lugging around instrument cases.

  4. Nicolas Neal says:

    I don’t believe much of our student body has pondered all the football and related events they’ve lost by enrolling at MSMS (until this article has prompted them to do so). I doubt there is much desire to instate a team or hold pep rallies, as we are already sociable enough, but SHOULD we do anything to that end? No, not really.

  5. Kinsley Hendricks says:

    As a former person in the band, I do miss football season. I miss getting ready and the band hall, and not doing work that say in band because everybody was getting ready. I feel like maybe MSMS should have a sports kick off or something, because personally I don’t even know about all the sports we have here or who plays them. So having a moment where those people can be shown off would be nice.

  6. Lauren Varner says:

    Truthfully, football has always been secondary in my academic life. The only times I attended games in the past were when I would go home with my marching band friends right after. The audience’s energy at games did little to lift my spirits, but rather the silence and frigid air only added to the misery. Personally, I am glad that MSMS does not have a football team because we do not need one. While my past experiences do darken my opinion of the sport, the truth is we have soccer. I have seen more passion in the soccer players and supporters at MSMS than I ever saw for football at my home school. Also, we are not missing out on Homecoming as we have Winter Formal and Royalty nominations. The only thing we may be lacking in this regard is pep rallies, yet we have other events that uplift the spirits of our students. However, if a pep rally is desired by the student body, the protocol to organize one is not complex- simply ask for it.

  7. Geethika Polepalli says:

    For me, football games were always a day of playing my trombone in the bleachers with the rest of the band. I definitely miss the experience of marching on the turf and dancing to drumline beats with my friends beside me. For a school like MSMS, obviously, there is no way we could have a football team. Pep rallies are typically reserved for football games, so I feel that even if MSMS were to have one, it wouldn’t be as fun or as hype. There is no way that MSMS could have a marching band either because the size of our band is so small and doesn’t have the right instrumentation. Overall, there’s no way that we could bring the feeling of football games to MSMS, but we do have our own ways of having fun on our own.

  8. Bryanna Boggs says:

    Truthfully, I have only been to one highschool football game. It was always sort of secondary in my life, but I do miss the school events of homecoming week. The pep rallies, the dances, and the “homecoming week” class competitions always marked the start of the school year for me. And because switched schools multiple times, I got to experience so many different “homecoming week” traditions that I always found myself enjoying. So, every year I got used to looking back at my old school’s pages and seeing what they were doing, so it’s really not that much different for me here. But, I really don’t see a point in recreating homecoming week here because we have our own unique traditions at MSMS.

  9. Elijah Camba says:

    Back in my hometown, I never really did anything extracurricular. I never went to a high school football, basketball, or even baseball game, because I never found them to be interesting. However, my little brother is now in the football team and I often wonder why I shied away from those opportunities. Now I sit here about to graduate, realizing that my life is complete with or without being in something like football. I believe that although it wouldn’t seem like a bad idea for us to participate or even start a football team, we would honestly be garbage. That’s just my opinion and it might even be true.

  10. Bill Arnoldus says:

    I was never interested in football. If enough people at MSMS are interested in playing then they could try to form a team. The obstacles of course, finding players, a field, and a sponsor would make this very difficult, but it could happen.

  11. Max Feng says:

    Personally, I do not miss football too much. At my old school, I would attend games from time to time for the atmosphere that football provides, not just for the game itself. It was fun to cheer with your friends as the band blasts the popular fight song, but I think the atmosphere can be replicated with different activities. At MSMS, I do not think it would be feasible to have a competitive football team. The school puts much more emphasis on academics than other Mississippi schools leaving less time for players to practice.

  12. Victoria West says:

    As a student who used to attend a private school with 48 students from 6th-12th, we were unable to have a football team. However, our school did revolve around basketball and nearly everyone played. Even though I have never been able to experience Friday night games, I will definitely miss basketball season. I’m not sure how comparable this season is to football, but the feeling of being with my friends at night multiple days to both play and cheer on teams was a feeling I will definitely miss. The school vs. game atmospheres were both entirely different and it was honestly the only reason I wanted to stay in private school.

  13. Ashton Lollis says:

    As a former player in the marching band, I do miss the exhilarating thrill there was during a Friday night. The energy, the screaming and fun we had while playing for the worst team in Mississippi -The Wilkinson County High School Wildcats. I feel like that those traditions are a little outdated and I think it is time a step in the other direction though. However, I do believe that we should occasionally have a friendly 7on7 with juniors and seniors.

  14. Zayde Williams says:

    To me, football was a big thing since I was in the band. Most of the time my home school, South Panola High school, would make it into the playoffs and would take even more time to practice and keep up what we had. I feel like as an MSMS student I miss playing in the stands, cheering on the team every Friday night, and doing our marching show but here we need all the time we can get to study and do our work. So soccer and tennis are good sports to have instead of football.

  15. Gracyn Young says:

    When I was in middle school I would go to the high school’s football games and envy the students old enough to sit in the student section. Once I reached high school, I realized that a group of people just wasn’t for me. I only went to football games my freshman year, as I was on the dance team, but during my sophomore year, I only went to one. While I don’t miss watching the actual sport or going to the games in general, the unity that the football games brought throughout the student body was undoubtedly significant. While I agree with almost everyone, saying that MSMS student’s neither have the time nor desire to have a football team/football season, I think that we already have a profound sense of unity and don’t need a sport to drive it together.

  16. John Robert Walker says:

    I attended football games while I was a student at my former school and they are something I miss. I will likely return to my home school to attend football games this year. I enjoy the atmosphere and social aspect of the games. My home school, Starkville High School, also happened to be pretty good which made the games exciting. As many students mentioned above, there is not enough time, interest, or resources for a football team here at MSMS. At least for now, we will have to visit our home schools to watch a high school football game.

  17. Atticus Ross says:

    I would say I do miss attending football games at my former school. I did not go to every game, but it was a great opportunity to end the week by hanging out with friends. The chaotic energy of the student section is something I do reminisce about from time to time. While I enjoyed them, I do not see football being a good fit here at MSMS. I think it would be hard finding players let alone have time to practice with the workload MSMS offers.

  18. Jacqueline Smith says:

    I never liked football or cheer or marching band. My school put a giant emphasis on indoor percussion and they (said they) were internationally recognized. Kelly Clarkson even sent the percussion a video congratulating them on their performance. On that note, I only ever went to football games to hang out with my friends when I was about twelve, so I don’t miss it. The only things I could think of to replace this kind of atmosphere would be to put more emphasis on soccer or another sport. Whether that would make a whole lot of sense or not is questionable, but the dance teams could put on an energetic performance for the school. I think that an occasional performance, kind of like a pep rally, would be fun and it could take out a bit of monotony that MSMS students experience. I think this would be a good idea for homecoming season or for wrapping up a nine-weeks.

  19. Kadie Van says:

    I believe that some students, especially those who have been on a former football team, miss football at times, but I do not believe that MSMS should be held accountable for that. Students who chose to come here knew that they would leave their old school behind for a more academic focus. There are always ways students could experience that football high again such as going to football games at their former schools or getting a little football get together in their free time. An example would be myself. I was in the marching band and would always go to the games at my old school. I miss the lights, the friends, the action, but I came to MSMS to focus more on my studies because that is what will get me scholarships.

  20. Iris Xue says:

    I only ever went to one of my high school’s football games, and I went to show my school spirit on the night it counted: homecoming. Even though it was terribly cold and the plays on the field were horrendous for a homecoming game, I liked taking a moment to enjoy a sport I didn’t understand with the people I cared about most. I never particularly liked football games, but I was always fond of the idea of unity in the student section. Even though I didn’t go very often, it was comforting to know that I could experience that atmosphere any Friday that I wished. As many students have commented above, I don’t think an MSMS football team is a feasible thing, but I’d like to continue the idea of fostering unity, whether that be in other sports events or class events.

  21. Mira Patel says:

    My undying wish for my high school career is going to a football game. Before MSMS, I went to a school that was a hybrid of an early college and a regular high school. Because of this, I was not able to attend any football games as my high school did not have a football team. This is a big regret that I have because I have heard that many students like going to football games because it is a fun pastime and a way to socialize with friends while cheering on their respective schools. I think that although MSMS cannot have an actual football team, we can put on “mock” matches between willing students and have games that are sort of like actual football games but with their own MSMS twist 🙂

  22. Kinsley Collum says:

    I never was interested in Football itself. I do, however, miss football games. The social aspect of games is what I miss the most. Being able to hang out with a bunch of friends after a long week at a set location was always fun and a good destresser. I also think football games have the perfect atmosphere to have fun and let loose a bit. There is always loud music playing from the band, people cheering in the stands, and everyone essentially is there to support one team or the other. The chaos of the stands creates a vibrant and exciting environment that most people can enjoy. Although I miss football games, I don’t think there is a way to bring the same thing to MSMS. Even if we were to create something like football at MSMS, we would never be able to exactly replicate the energy, feeling, and deep-rooted history that football has.

  23. Adalberto Estrella says:

    I never played football or went to many of the games but I do know what it meant for many others. I knew students that all they could think of was the football games on Friday. When I did go though, I never wanted to leave, the atmosphere is amazing with the music, everyone cheering, and laughing with your friends. The band playing their music that they’ve been practicing was also a big part. Even with all these positive things, I don’t think MSMS should make a football team because I don’t think we would have enough people to play and even if there were enough, it would take too much time away. Then they would carry the risk of getting injured.

  24. Alex White says:

    I cannot speak for the entire MSMS community, but I certainly miss Friday night football. The energy in the air that the sport creates cannot be replicated. Although I was not a cheerleader, football player, or a band member I was still a varsity athlete and going to support and watch other athletes doing what they love, created a unique bond that cannot easily be severed. I rarely hear students mention football games, or the lack thereof, here at MSMS so I do not think there would be much of an interest.

  25. Eddie Lai says:

    I personally do miss attending football games. Although I have only gone to football games for marching band, I do miss the energy that the games bring. However, I believe that football games are one of many sacrifices that I have made coming to MSMS, and I still stand by my decision to forgo this cherished activity I once partook in.

    I would like to think that MSMS does not need to and should not replace it here. I may be biased because I have already been here for a year, but the environment that MSMS fosters is drastically different. We do not need to be like our respective high schools because we are our own unique high school. The downside of not having fun football games to attend is offset by the myriad of other things we can do. The special thing about MSMS is the people and community here. There’s alway something that you can do with your friends because you live around them 24/7, something that you don’t see in typical high schools.

  26. Bradley Kuebler says:

    As a former band member, I loved football games as it allowed us to hang out and play catchy songs with some of my closest friends. The entire atmosphere was amazing, we would sit and laugh while making fun of our football team for being awful while getting excited for touchdowns as it meant we got to play. We also got to perform our marching band song during half time at many of the games which was absolutely thrilling as it was our only time to practice it for a crowd before competitions. I don’t really see a way of implementing anything like this at MSMS due to the VASTLY underwhelming amount of free time we have but I still miss it.

  27. Bethany Setiawan says:

    Football can be one the most electrifying aspects of high school if you allowed it to be. I’ve never been a fan of my old high school’s football team, but I did support the surrounding schools in my hometown. Following the special dress codes like western, senior citizen, or wearing the school’s team colors is something I miss dearly since it was time where we all decided to have fun together in the humid atmosphere. Many students at MSMS don’t necessarily have a lot of free time on their hands, but MSMS could do a field day where everyone comes together and play games. Even though, it wouldn’t replace the aspect of high school football for some students, it could become something that all students can look forward to.

  28. Jack Sisson says:

    I don’t necessarily miss football games. I think football games are fun at regular high schools, but here at MSMS, I don’t think that I would have enough time to enjoy a pep rally and football game.
    As for other students, I have never heard others talk about missing pep rallies or football games. I think even if we did enjoy them, we moved our passions into different activities here at MSMS. Pep rallies are fun when the school or town is boring, but we have plenty to do here, I feel.

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