Each LHS team sport has diverse traditions that make the athletic program unique and special. It could go from eating pasta for a much needed win or a quick prayer before a game. Whether it is football, basketball, wrestling or swim, each sport has important superstitions and traditions that help the team not only win, but also bond together.

Football has a fun, yet simple tradition that helps them get focused and mentally prepared before the game, while still having fun together.

“For pregame, our kicking game goes out, then our passing game goes out, then as a whole team we go out for warm-ups. We go through all the situations that could happen during the game,” senior Coleman Howard said. “We always sing a song before where we repeat after a coach before we leave the locker room before every game.”

Women’s basketball has similar traditions to prepare for games.

“Before our games we hit the top of the doorway, we go warm up, go into our huddle and then we pray,” freshman Emilyn Richardson said. “The coaches take part. They’re the ones who motivate us to do this stuff. A coach once told me ‘a team that prays together stays together’.”

Some traditions can be as simple as eating a team meal together or doing secret Santa around the holidays.

“We have pasta parties the night before every [swim] meet. We also do secret [Santa] for our home meets, we draw names and we’ll get presents for everybody,” sophomore Mallory McGee said. “[And the] pasta parties help us win, it’s pretty beneficial.”

It’s very similar to what men’s basketball does for their traditions as well.

“For pre-game we all just sit there and mentally prepare, a lot of guys listen to music, just get locked in for game time,” junior Vance Howerton said. “Throughout the season, we don’t do anything really special, besides team dinners, which is team bonding, I love bonding with the team and we do a gift exchange around Christmas. It’s a running tradition, it’s really cool.”

For wrestling it isn’t always about what you do during the season, it’s the mentality they share with their teammates.

“We always get a workout in before we compete,” wrestling coach Mike Hammer said. “We always have pre-match warm-ups before we go. It’s just like in most sports where we go over our drills and try to stay warm.”

“We talk a lot about bonding and how we share a common goal. It’s not all about winning or losing; it’s about working very hard to be successful. So in a way, we bond in the mentality of the sport,” he said.

It takes a good team to win matches and games, but it takes a great team to come together and play for each other.

Even though traditions might not necessarily help a team win, it does give them a better bond and better sense of connection with their team, which, in itself, is a win.

“We jump on top of each other in our huddle before the game to get pumped up before the game because we’re all brothers and we’re just out there to get a job done,” Howard said. “I don’t know if the traditions help you win, but it does give us a better sense of closeness with our team.”