With the recent successes of some Tufts sports teams and the efforts of student initiatives to increase school spirit, the Tufts community has seen a significant shift in the culture surrounding athletics, exemplified most recently by the school's overwhelming support of the women's basketball team. Together, Tufts sports teams and Fan the Fire - a student-run program that promotes Jumbo pride - have worked to generate more school spirit.
Members of the women's basketball team said they credit much of their success to fans who rallied around them from game one all the way to Stevens Point, Wis. during the Final Four round of the NCAA tournament.
"It was just amazing to see, as the season went on, students coming to games and getting more interested," Caitlin McClure, senior guard for the women's basketball team and a Tufts Daily editor, said. "The support continued to grow, and by the end it was really special how many people were behind us."
The men's track team, in particular, was one of the women's basketball team's biggest supporters. What started off as just a few team members sitting behind the Tufts basketball bench early in the season turned into an entire cheering section with costumes, signs and fat heads of each player, McClure explained.
"Their team brought the energy and made the gym an electric environment that was fun for everyone there," senior Ali Rocchi, senior forward for the women's basketball team, said. "It's all about students actively wanting to come and having fun at the games that keeps them coming back."
The fans had their own fun in the stands watching the team compete, according to track team member junior Joe Poupard.
"We didn't know just how fun it would be," Poupard said. "And watching the team compete and beat the best teams in the country made us really proud to be Jumbos and Jumbo athletes. During the NCAA tournament when Cousens was packed to the rafters and rocking, it was a really cool moment where you could feel just how much spirit we had at this school. The energy in the gym was something I'll never forget."
Rocchi credited Fan the Fire programming for generating energetic, supportive crowds at their games.
"It started with Fan the Fire," Rocchi said. "Just by getting the word out through tabling, postering, Facebook and Twitter - it was really a catalyst to build a great fan base."
Fan the Fire was established in 2011 by two past seniors, Melissa Burke and Amanda Roberts, as part of their Communications and Media Studies senior project. Now in its third year, the program continues to grow with the mission to bring Jumbos together through both athletics and service.
"The Fan the Fire initiative was a huge step forward," William Gehling, director of Athletics, said. "It was a super idea, combining the whole notion of trying to build spirit with the whole idea of active citizenship, which is a core value of the institution."
Fan the Fire has worked to raise awareness of athletics on campus, while also promoting philanthropy. On Feb. 14, for example, the program worked to raise awareness for the American Heart Association at both men's and women's basketball games.
"Athletics is more than running around on a field," Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) member junior Emily Eickhoff, who has volunteered at many Fan the Fire events, said. "It's about connecting to the community and to organizations."
Though community service is an important aspect to many universities around the country, Tufts has emphasized active citizenship in support of its athletic teams, according to Gehling.
"I do think that active citizenship is a core value to Tufts ... [more so] than it is at many other schools ... and Fan the Fire shed a light on it," Gehling said.
Many have begun to notice the effects of Fan the Fire at sporting events. Eickhoff discussed this newfound atmosphere surrounding Tufts athletics.
"There has been a change on campus that I have been feeling around the basketball team and the field hockey team last year," Eickhoff said. "Our teams and our athletics [programs] are really ramping it up, and the student body is starting to kind of rally around it."
Gehling reiterated this increasing awareness of Tufts' athletics programs.
"I think we have a lot of outstanding teams," Gehling said. "We really do. They have been getting better and better over the last decade or so. I think that [Gantcher's new facility] helps a lot in terms of [the] first impression of Tufts athletics when someone visits, but we have a lot of really talented coaches that are working hard to build strong programs, and in some ways, I think the Tufts campus is just becoming aware of it."
Not only has school spirit been building among students, but also among Tufts alumni, many of whom have remained connected to Tufts athletics, according to Jonathan Kaplan, the senior associate director of Alumni Relations.
"Hundreds of alumni come back for Homecoming every year to attend the football game and other sporting events, and to celebrate the rich tradition of their alma mater," Kaplan told the Daily in an email.
This May the sailing team is planning an alumni-student regatta to celebrate the multiple generations of Tufts sailors.
While Gehling acknowledged that attracting large audiences to the stands can sometimes be difficult at Tufts, he believes this recent surge in school spirit will go far.
"It's always been a challenge to get big crowds to our games," he said. "But I think what the basketball experience shows is that if you create something worth watching people will come down and watch. And I think if you create an experience that is enjoyable, they'll come back. I think what is happening in Tufts athletics is kind of on an upward trajectory, and I don't expect it to stop anytime soon."
Eickhoff also expressed her excitement in regards to the increasing Jumbo pride.
"I love the shift that is happening," Eickhoff said. "People are paying attention and people are saying, 'What are you doing Friday night? Let's go to the game,' and I didn't see that a couple years ago. I'm starting to see that now, and I like to think that SAAC and Fan the Fire [have] played a role in making that a reality."
