September 20th, 2024 marks an important day of the Saugus Football Team’s fourth game of the season, and this was against a fellow district school – Valencia high school. Conflicted on the social media platform, Instagram, Valencia high school’s student section leaders called – “VNat” decided to throw shade towards their Saugus competitors. In response, Saugus’ Blue Crew decided to take the silent route and not engage with their negative comments, “When we’re 0-4 but realize we got Saugus next on our schedule (we’re going 1-4 now).”, implemented onto a VNat’s instagram reel, tagging Blue Crew.
Saugus ended up losing the game, but their student section did not fail to keep the spirits alive. With commitment and loads of positivity, one of the Blue Crew Leaders’ and senior’s, Timothy Gulley, knew exactly how to innovate a positive experience for all the students that attended the game to support the football team. Gulley informs why he never let the cheers expire, “It’s really important because I believe the biggest reason that football succeeds is dependent on if they have support from their peers and classmates.” As this young man articulates the importance of support from an audience, it emphasizes how even though Saugus went through this rough game of starting out strong, to ending on the losing latter…they never had to doubt their classmates and families for not being loud enough. On the other hand, the Blue Crew leaders never engaged with VNat’s negative post – this proves how Saugus students have mature morals. Gulley represents the student body, “Saugus is the bigger person because we still stay positive and stay supportive for our team and our team only. We only minded our own business on cheering for our players rather than making fun of Valencia’s during the game.” By proudly repeating just the simple word “our” establishes how Timothy and all of Saugus’ students work together to make the “Dream Team”.
Following the brave Blue Crew leader Timothy Gulley, Junior student Lena Fawkes stood on the other side of perspective at this important game – the student section! This bright girl evaluates the environment in an optimistic mindset, “The student section brought an uplifting and fun energy to help support the team. People were doing chants, cheering, and engaging into the game. Saugus’ students love their football team and just want them to do their best.” Just knowing that students care for their football team so much proves that no matter if the team loses or not – everyone is there for the boys in blue. In general losses in sports are hard. This could ruin the joy that a player has for their passion and it could even discourage many fans at points in time, but Fawkes witnessed an astounding observation at Saugus. She concludes the team’s prominent morality, “I am proud of the Saugus football team for walking out of the game with a positive attitude because their effort and commitment to the team goes so much further in life than just one win. Whether they win or lose games, what they learn along the way is incredibly valuable.” Following what the student proves, having strong teamwork makes Saugus’ team the most family bonded, along with the student body always being there for the players.
Due to each Saugus student’s radiant positivity, everyone still got an enjoyable experience of cheering on the football team. In the end of the issue, Saugus concludes to be the “bigger person” compared to Valencia, because they refused to respond to the situation with aggression and instead with optimism. Even though Saugus lost the game, the boys in blue always will win because their morals are strong and they love to represent a community of Saugus students who collaborate to build valuable sportsmanship.
