Super Fans show school spirit at Homecoming game

The Students Behind the Chants

Carina Block, Copy Editor

 

Video from Stillwater Area Public Schools

The student section at the football game is on their toes as the ball gets snapped to quarterback junior Luke Cullen. The crowd goes wild after a gain of 15 yards. The students shout out a couple different cheers lead by the not often talked about, most energetic fans standing in the front row of the bleachers. These people have the unique title of ‘Super Fans.’

This year’s super fans are a diverse group of people that all agree on one thing: energy is everything. The students involved in this group are seniors Tavia Deloach, Adam Eisele, Emily Fjestad, Jay Haws, Blake Evenson, Jesse Brown, Payton Bruggers, Jack Seipel and Tatiana Biessener. The energy shared by the super fans is special because they are the students that get to choose multiple things from directing the crowd in cheers to the dress-up theme for each game.

“I love it. I love seeing people smile and cheering with me. It’s awesome,” senior super fan Tavia Deloach said.

When asked why they became super fans there were a few notable responses including, “Just have [younger students] look up to you,” senior super fan Adam Eisele said.

“I mostly did it [because I wanted to] keep people in the groove of football games and volleyball games and all the sportsmanship,” Deloach added.

Being a super fan is a special thing for seniors as it enhances their energy for school spirit and their love for making everybody come together. This year’s super fans want to be strong examples for future seniors in their position.

Additionally, although super fans are most known for their chants at the varsity football games, “We try to get to all of the varsity games but we have also been trying to go to non-varsity games as well. And like, support the [JV and B Squad] games and the students coming up to varsity [in the future] so they can feel supported too,” senior super fan Emily Fjestad explained.

Our biggest obstacle right now is getting the freshman to participate and be involved in [watching] the game.

— Emily Fjestad

A big goal for the super fans is to keep all student athletes feeling welcome and encouraged no matter what level they play in for their sport. The energy given to an individual sports team can affect the energy and enthusiasm the players put into their game. However, being a super fan has more than only keeping the student section’s spirits high.

Fjestad added about this year’s homecoming stunt and said, “The past [couple] years [they did] the ‘Parting of the Red Sea’ and so we’re trying to come up with something original. We have a couple ideas circulating and we’re discussing them.”

Fjestad then explained how her and her fellow super fans have a group chat where they throw around ideas, trying to generate something special and suitable for the homecoming game.

Finally, it is common for people in the student section, generally freshman and sophomores, to not cheer or show excitement and energy towards the game they are watching. When faced in this situation most super fans share the idea to, “show [more] energy and they’ll show it back,” Eisele explained.

“So we have a white board, obviously, and we do cheers, but also it’s just like you have to give off a certain energy and then you’ll get it back. Our biggest obstacle right now is getting the freshman to participate and be involved in [watching] the game,” Fjestad explained. The super fans “don’t just like hyping the crowd up,” Fjestad added, “but [also] like engaging our student section in the game”.

“S-T-I-L-H-2-O!” the crowd chanted as an end to the school song after an unexpected comeback against the Roseville Raiders.