The Sandspur

Issue date: 11/5/04 Section: Opinions

Media Credit: ROLLINS COLLEGE PUBLIC RELATIONS CUTTING THE RIBBON: On Saturday afternoon, Rollins faculty and students cut the ribbon to dedicate the soccer field.

Media Credit: Janice Haramis ROLLINS DANCERS: Yadhira and Selena show their Rollins Spirit.

Media Credit: Janice Haramis FOX PRIDE: S.G.A. President Pierce Nieken, and Asst. Dir. of Student Involvement and Leadership Corey Ellis.

"SIDE OUT ladies, right NOW!" Corey yelled out beside me. Perplexed, I turned to him to ask for yet another explanation of the game of volleyball. "Well, it's like 'Go! Score! Get a point! Get out there!'" 'Ahhhhh,' I smiled, as if a great mystery of the sport had been revealed to me. I had never watched an entire volleyball game before, and so when I finally did this past Sunday at the Homecoming game as Rollins faced Nova Southeastern, many issues bewildered me. For example, what were the intricate hand signals and positions the girls took before a serve, and why did everyone cheer when a ball went out of bounds? ("Play signals and rally scoring," Corey explained patiently.) The first game (or match? or set?) was won handily by our amazingly spry team. (The rolls and dives those ladies execute rival any dancer or gymnast I know!) As the second game began, my heart surprisingly sunk when Nova took an early lead.

Up to this point, I had taken for granted that Rollins would win, I thought that was a given. Tars never lose, do we? (My lack of sport experience was showing.) When the Nova's score neared 30 (Which is when the match is over, for those equally uneducated as I.) I began to worry. I had never cared if we as a team or school won or lost before, but suddenly, watching my fellow female Tars sweat and bruise in the name of my school's honor, I began to agonize. Then, as if a second wind had coursed through the entire team, we began to regain ground one spike at a time until victory seemed within our reach. We had stalled the Nova team for a little and we were ready to take the game when... we lost. "It's ok," Corey reassured me, "it's the best out of five."

Fast forward to the end of the deciding game, when Nova and Rollins were locked in a death-by-points match to the end and I found myself cheering with vigor I didn't know I had. We could win it! Our pride could be salvaged by just a few more points! As my sisters in Rollins rotated in and out of the court battling for our collective honor, I felt a school spirit and pride rise up in me that was wholly unfamiliar. As I transferred two years ago as a sophomore, I was convinced that I would never feel a connection to Rollins as I had felt at my first college, but in the gym that Homecoming weekend, I felt my veins run blue and gold. When the last point was won by the talented ladies of the Tars volleyball team, my voice rose to join with over 100 years of Rollins alumni and tradition that has been taken for granted and neglected for far too long.

That night at the game, I learned that I have more school spirit than I even realized, and that everyone else on campus would probably come to the same conclusion if they ever went to a game and communed with the athletes who sacrificed their bodies for our school pride.

School spirit should not be a point of shame when we have so much to be proud of: amazing teams comprised of outstanding players, great academics, a beautiful campus, and so much more.

Sure, Rollins has its drawbacks, as does any school. The rampant lack of school spirit was never more apparent than at last week's Homecoming, when several potentially entertaining events had to be cancelled due to lack of participation.

The prospective hilarious moments during the Battle of the Classes will never be known due to this lack of spirit and involvement, and no one will ever know who would have won the Class Spirit Competition becuase no one came. When it comes down to it, we need to appreciate what we have here, because when you finally graduate the pride and memories cultivated at Rollins are all that you have left. SIDE OUT Rollins. The teams of Rollins hear it every day, and now it is our turn.

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