Go to any sports game, and you will hear the chants and roars coming from the Superfans section. Having already increased the spirit and morale for many athletes, the Superfans club is looking to carry this momentum into the stands of the upcoming playoffs for some of the fall teams.

The Superfans club is run by seniors, Campbell Hawkins, Taylor Whitley and Olivia Boyd, as well as their adviser, librarian Ann Collins. The club aims to bring a stronger sense of school spirit to sporting events and encourages students to support their classmates.

Unlike a traditional club, Superfans club does not hold any meetings within the school day and doesn’t have a concrete list of members. Instead, anyone who shows up to support a sporting event is considered a “Superfan.”

Hawkins, a senior, said that he got involved because he wanted to get more people to support sporting events.

“I thought it was a really cool opportunity,” Hawkins said. “I knew how tough it was for athletes last year not having any fans at games, and when I was asked to kind of run it, I got super excited because I knew that if we put some work in, we could get big crowds at games.”

Whitley, also a senior, said that so far Superfans has put their time into attending many different sports games but are now focused on trying to continue the powderpuff tradition.

“We’ve gone to a couple of games so far. We’ve gone to a football game, a soccer game and a field hockey game,” Whitley said. “Right now we’re working on making sure powderpuff can happen because it’s a really important tradition our school has, and it would be sad if it was missed.”

Whitley is also a member of the girls varsity swim and dive team and said when Superfans went to her meet, it was extremely fun and motivating.

“They went to one two years ago. It’s definitely a lot of fun, and having a lot of your friends and school classmates cheering you on definitely motivates you to do well,” Whitley said. “It brings a really fun environment into the pool, and it really pushes you to work hard and do your best.”

Hawkins, who also plays on the boys varsity hockey team, said that he had a similar experience to Whitley that the energy at the rink was infectious when the Superans were present.

“Two years ago, we made it to the second round of playoffs and we had this game against Bishop Feehan in literally the middle of nowhere, but we were still able to get at least 60 people to come out. It was honestly just so encouraging and supporting to see everyone go crazy,” Hawkins said.

Collins said that one goal this year is staying organized in order to accomplish their goals and support a variety of different teams.

“Superfans had been without an adviser for a little while, so I know one thing that I talked to the 2020 class about was to be a little more concrete about our goals,” Collins said. “We don’t ask people to join, so when there is behavior that is subpar, the people who are going to have to take care of it are the leaders. So, those three will have to step up.”

Hawkins said that the process for becoming a member is very simple, and students should be encouraged to support their classmates outside of school.

“For students that want to be a part of the club, our biggest thing is obviously following us on Instagram, because that’s how they’re going to find out about when the games are,” Hawkins said. “Another thing we’re doing this year is we have an email list that students could have signed up for at the club fair, and we’re bringing that to games as well.”

Hawkins said that Superfans has a lot of big goals for the future and will be working hard this year to accomplish as many of them as possible.

“Athletics-wise, we definitely are preparing for the playoffs because that’s a big time for us and we definitely want fans there. So that’s going to be fun,” Hawkins said. “Within the club, we’re going to be releasing some merch soon and we might do different fundraising events from the past like a dodgeball tournament, but it just kind of depends on [the] COVID-19 [pandemic].”

Collins said that it is important to Superfans that everybody who wants to go to a game can and that a diverse range of sports are supported.

“I think one of our goals this year is to support a more diverse range of teams, to make sure that you know that we’re supporting as many girls teams as boys teams,” Collins said. “We’re also trying to rent a bus to go to some of the away games, as well as coordinating better with the cheer team to make the atmosphere more fun. You know, listen and support the cheer team at halftime when they’re doing cheers, chanting with them back and forth. That kind of thing. And of course, always being respectful.”