Dressing up for the Friday night football games and gatoring is a popular activity for upperclassmen at Arrowhead High School. But freshmen are entering Arrowhead and are experiencing the student section and gatoring for the very first time.

Gatoring entails a wave of students in assortments of colors and costumes at the home and away football games.

“I don’t go all out because not all of the freshmen do, so I don’t want to feel like the odd ball,” says freshman, Ella Flatt.

The gatoring themes are not included in any syllabus, so the home games Arrowhead hosts often do not start out with strong participation from the underclassmen.

Although the idea of showing up to a football game wearing an animal costume or spandex may be unheard of for freshmen and sophomores, head gator Connor Teel says that dressing up is for all students.

Gators often lead the student section cheers including go bananas cheer, colors cheer, and the roller coaster cheer.

Some underclassmen feel that gatoring adds to the excitement of football games.

“I was aware of gatoring before school started and it honestly made me even more excited for the football games to start,” says freshman, Katherine Prodoehl.

At most football games, there are head gators wearing crazy costumes and shouting the cheers. Costumes at the football games can vary from hot dog costumes to leis and grass skirts.

Upperclassmen have been using social media such as Twitter and Instagram to spread the word about gatoring. Recently, they have been tweeting the themes on the Twitter page, AHSgators17, and writing the cheers on white boards at the game so everyone can participate.

“We are trying to send out information earlier so that people are aware of the themes and have more time to prepare. At the games, we are trying to have gators stand closer to the top of the stands so that everyone is ready and can follow along,” says head gator and senior, Abby Leyden.

In past games, there have been themes such as blackouts, beachy, preppy, and USA. Leyden says the head gators will continue to bring this tradition to every game to encourage and support the sports teams.

“Us gators hope that the tradition stays strong and that everyone keeps cheering on their fellow classmates who are fighting out on that field for that win,” says Teel. “Gatoring is what keeps athletes pumped and we hope to set a good example of how to cheer and keep the crowd engaged in the games.”