As the only sports who participate in “freshman kidnapping,” the cheerleaders and Golden Girls make sure to fully embrace their valued tradition.
“The tradition has always been the seniors ‘kidnap’ all the non-seniors on varsity, which include the freshman-juniors,” Maddy Jonas (12) said.
Though this tradition happens each year, it never ends up being quite the same.
“The seniors on the varsity cheer team typically do it on the first day or around the first game,” Taylor Beranek (12) said. “There’s no set date because we want it to be a surprise.”
When this all goes down, the girls make sure that the event was worth the wait each year.
“We go to all of their houses and we wake them up with bells, whistles and outfits that they get to wear all day,” Beranek said.
Once the girls were awoken, they were only met with more confusing conditions.
“We don’t tell them where we’re going,” Grace Hickman (12) said. “We just tell them to get ready in like two minutes.”
Despite the surprise it was to the new cheer members, this event wasn’t kept a secret to everyone involved.
“We email their parents and keep in contact with them,” Hickman said.
With the parents in on the situation, the teams were then free to gain the fruits of their labors.
“It was surprising waking up to other girls,” Camryn Doerr (9) said. “…I was not expecting it.”
Doerr wasn’t the only one who wasn’t expecting to wake up to such circumstances.
“Initially I was scared because I thought someone random was in the house,” Khalia Bishop (9) said. “But I think it was fun.”
Other than the joy of it all, the “kidnapping” has other purposes it serves to the teams.
“We kidnap the freshmen for our first team bonding [event] of the season to welcome the newbies to the team,” Sarah Catlett (12) said.
Through this welcoming event, the teams get to bond in ways they wouldn’t otherwise.
“I enjoy getting to know the freshmen because they’re so different out of practice…,” Mya Lampe (12) said. “It’s fun to get to know them on a personal level.”
Getting to know the freshmen can be an unfamiliar experience, even for the seniors.
“Sometimes the seniors have known each other for a while but don’t know the underclassmen,” Hickman said, “so it’s a great way to get to know the whole team.”
Together, the seniors use this opportunity to pass on the title of the “older sisters” on the team, making way for the other classes to take their places.
“They’ll get kidnapped every year, and then when they are seniors, they’ll do the kidnapping,” Hickman said.
The team members feel that the passing on of the tradition is crucial to the rest.
“I can’t imagine not doing it,” Hickman said.
Throughout all of the gatherings the teams have throughout the year, “freshmen kidnapping” remains one of the girls’ favorites.
“It’s just a really fun thing for us to do,” Beranek said. “It’s one of my best memories each year.”
