While most Georgetown University students may be sleeping in on Saturday mornings after packed Friday nights, I’m up early grabbing coffee and my trumpet before heading to Studio A in New North to prepare for game days with the Pep Band. It’s a year-round ritual: no matter the season, we’re at football, basketball, soccer games and more.
I joined Pep Band at the very beginning of my first year on the Hilltop. In the band, I found a group of kindred spirits who are some of the most passionate fans of Georgetown sports you’ll ever meet. Not only do we love playing our instruments, but we’re also united by a shared purpose in creating as conducive an environment as possible for our teams to win.
One of my all-time favorite memories from my time as a Hoya so far has been cheering on the women’s basketball team’s upset of Creighton at the Big East tournament last year. The game was electric from start to finish, and we played our hearts out despite the low number of Georgetown fans in the stands (the game took place at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Conn.). We all lost our voices the next day because we had been chanting and screaming the entire time — a final release of the passion we had built up for the team over the course of the season, having first-hand witnessed their many highs and lows. This made watching the team’s success at the tournament even more special.
This past April, I was elected as the president of the band after playing in it for two years. I love what we do, the entire ethos of it and just being able to share in the community of enjoying sports and playing music together. The thing I admire most about my bandmates — or as those of us in the band say, “bandos” — is their relentless dedication to pep, even when our teams lose. It is no secret that the football and basketball teams have had some rough times in recent years. I remember the turnout being so low at men’s basketball games my first year that we could basically count on one hand the number of students in the stands. But, win or lose, you best believe the pep team is always there.
In band, we like to say “even if the team loses, the band always wins”; that’s truly the spirit of what we do. Just being together with my fellow bandos always makes my days better. When the full force of midterm season hits, being in a noisy arena is probably the last thing most people would expect to alleviate stress, but I recommend you try it. For me, playing the trumpet releases all of the anxieties and worries, at least for the moment. Feeling in complete sync with the rest of the crowd, all holding our breaths as the shot clock ticks down and losing our collective minds when the game ends in our favor, is an absolutely magical feeling.
When Georgetown teams do win — which, for the record, has become more frequent, knock on wood — the atmosphere is unmatched. It makes standing for hours during heartbreaking losses worth every second and compels you to forget about the dinner, club meeting or maybe even the class you skipped to give it all for the Hoyas and the band. It’s a kind of joy that can’t be put into words. You have to experience it first-hand.
Games like the Creighton upset this past April upset remind me constantly why I refuse to hit snooze when my alarm goes off early on a Saturday morning to get ready for a game. The infectious energy I feel at games is something I want everyone to experience. So, I implore you to catch some games. I promise you won’t regret it. Maybe you’ll even get to catch me with a trumpet in one hand, greasy pizza in another, all the while screaming for the electrifying 3-point buzzer beater that Georgetown makes to win the game.
