“The Gators” take the lead

The Gators are FAHS’ new school spirit starters at sporting events. In the past couple of years school spirit has declined — it is the gators’ job to get FAHS back on track.

“[The Gators] were developed to increase school spirit.  It is a matter of students supporting other students. We want to get student leaders to do crazy and fun things.  The main goal is to increase the spectators overall experience,”  Athletic Director Mark Pollex said.

Eating contests, extremely loud cheers, games, and wacky outfits are only a small part of the wild things that gators are willing to do to encourage fan participation.  Every game Gators try to incorporate new events.

“I can’t give away the surprise,” Senior Makenzie Foerster said.

The gators were put in place to make sure that fans come home from a game after an enjoyable experience.

“Gators make the games a lot more fun, whether we win or not,” Gasper said.  The gators may be the fun thing to watch during half time because of all the cool events that they orchestrate , but during the game they are the crazy fans that everyone sees at all sporting events.  They are there to make going to the game a good place to find entertainment.

“I would adamantly oppose the idea that [gators were] developed to be a distraction. [They are here] to increase the overall experience.  The game is a place to be on a Friday night.  Once you get spectators there it is a more appealing thing,” Pollex said.

Gators are here to initially start the fun, but fans are encouraged to get in on the action.

The Gators have some students confused as to where they came from.

“The students wanted to get more involved in their spirit and change how we are viewed by other teams around our state,” Foerster said.  Other football teams in our conference have very involved student sections, as demonstrated by our home games.  Some schools even tailgate when they are at away games.  It is one of the gator’s goals to get student spirit to reach that same level.

This club started at the end of the school year last year.  Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors may remember the morning announcements from Dr. Zaspel asking if anyone wanted to be gators.

“Over the summer [we had a meeting].  we basically played games and learned how to get the crowd involved,”  Foerster said.

Students and spectators can look forward to gators being at many different types of sporting events in the near future.

“We would like to have gator presence at every sport event,” Pollex said.

VN:F [1.5.6_840]