Plainwell High School’s athletic culture is known for consistency and competitiveness. It’s a place where the athletes take their sports seriously and carry a standard that’s been in place for years. It is a place where tradition, culture, and pride have always been core values for the athletes at PHS.

But lately, some of these values are starting to fade. Many teams aren’t participating in the pre-game and post-game traditions that used to bring athletes together: like dressing up on game days, celebrating wins as a team, or sticking around to support other sports. As these traditions fade, the strong sense of team and school pride that used to shape PHS sports is starting to feel weak.

Many pre-game traditions are being lost as senior athlete Gibson Youngs ’26 says “on our basketball team we had kids not participating in dressing up in warm up jerseys with the team during the school day… many of the underclassmen think that they are not as stylish or look as good.” He also says that “when our team is in uniform it shows pride for the program and makes us look put together and ready to go.”

Going to support other teams has been a fun way to show school pride and create a fun, supportive culture in PHS sports. But in recent years, our high school fan bases have been losing many fans, leading to a less electric environment and less of an incentive to perform. As senior athlete Drew Rayman ’26 says, ” having students and athletes come to games is very important… it affects the experience for the player and the fan watching, and it’s sad to see the lack of other teams coming out to support their fellow student athletes.”

After games and competitions, hanging out with your team has always been a great way to grow closer to your teammates while having fun at the same time, as a senior swimmer, Aiden Ranger ’26 puts it, “You’re able to celebrate and talk about the good things that happened during the match… ” He also states that “going out to eat with the team is a great morale boost and is something fun to look forward to.”

Part of the fun of being a student athlete is building the connections with your teammates outside of ‘gametime’. Hopefully, we can have a mindset shift to continue being the proud athletes and uphold these traditions while reinstating the original culture in our athletics.