The Oracle staff reveals Gunn sports' most unique team building activities.

The swim team has two different pre-meet rituals. “Right before the meet we get in a circle for a cheer and [Coach Mark] Hernandez gets in the middle,” junior Marie Volpe said. “Then he does this thing where he claps once and everyone has to clap with him at the exact same time. We keep clapping faster and faster leading up to an intense, intimidating sound.”

The girls’ team also has a dance cheer they perform on the side of the pool before each meet. “You know the song ‘Who rocks the house?’ Well we say ‘the Titans rock the house!’,” Volpe said. The girls dance sing and dance in unison, while the boys stand on the side and cheer them on.

Junior Tara Saxena described the Track and Field team’s pre-meet ritual. “The day before the meet, we do a team warm-up where we stand in rows and do hip thrusts,” she said. “We also do jumping jacks.” The team follows up with a group cheer session. Later that evening, the whole team is invited to a team member’s house for a colossal pasta feed potluck dinner.

The boys’ varsity basketball team started a new team tradition this year by having a potluck-style dinner before every home game. “I definitely enjoyed [these dinners] and it’s a bonus to have good food to eat,” junior Avery Reiss said. “It’s quality time spent with the team and we became much closer.”

While the pre-game home dinners serve as a bonding time, it is senior Brian Flaxman who leads the team’s spirit on the court, rallying his fellow teammates with words of encouragement.According to Reiss, he does this to “show the crowd what they’re really made of.”

Before the girls’ varsity basketball team walks out from the locker rooms to the courts, it has been a tradition for the girls to touch the top of the door for good luck.

“Touching the top of the door doesn’t exactly help me play better,” sophomore Christiane Murray said. “It’s just a team superstition.”

At the beginning of each season, two upperclassmen “kidnap” an underclassman on the team and deliver her to a designated place to have a team breakfast.

The varsity boys’ soccer team leads off each game with an original cheer, the Kenyan Dance. Senior David Light introduced this tradition to the team this year.

Each player stands in a circle, shoulder to shoulder, and everyone will start to clap at the same beat. While still clapping, the boys back up and then jog back to the middle of the circle. Then, they let loose, yelling and shouting for Gunn.

“I think that it’s a fun way to do a cheer instead of just 1, 2, 3, Gunn,” Sophomore Michael Starr said.

Additionally, the boys usually wear their warm up suits to school on game days.

According to senior Maya Bruhis, most of the girls on the varsity soccer team are close friends both on and off the field. Newcomers are made to feel welcomed at the annual “kidnapping,” where returning players pick up the newcomers early in the morning, dress them up in funny clothes and take them out to breakfast.

The varsity girls also have a tradition of having pasta-feeds the night before every big game. For away games, they set up a “secret buddy” system where each member is assigned a buddy to pack a snack for.

“We like to laugh and joke around with each other,” junior Jessie Belfer said. “All these traditions are definitely worth it.”

During pre-season conditioning, the badminton players do exercises such as lunges, planks and liners outside. “[During pre-season] the coaches think of intense, fun and difficult challenges for us to do,” junior George Sun said.

At the beginning of any match or tournament, the players get together in a circle, and shout “1, 2, 3 go Gunn!” in unison.

The players also host “parents’ nights” and potlucks several times throughout the season. “We invite all of the team members and their families to see us play, and our coach talks about things like what’s going on in the season,” senior Kevin Yao said.