It’s the end of the last quarter and the Kadets are down one score. The crowd is going wild as they cheer on the team. The crisp air carries out the screams and the stadium lights illuminate the anxious faces. As the clock runs out, a ball is successfully passed, leading to another Kadet win. Our Kadet Krazies get louder than ever imaginable as the team looks to the crowd and bats over their hearts and chant our fight song. Its known that the game was won by not only their hard work, but the spirit what was supplied to keep the team going. Spirit is all about being a family and its hands down one of the most important things about a game, that’s why you’ve got to remember A.E.P.- Attendence, Energy and Passion.

Attendance:
The #1 rule: The more the merrier.
Game attendance is the Big Poppa when it comes to spirit. If the student body is a no show or only a few show up, our spirit doesn’t even have a chance. The only spirit that would be present at those types of games is the spirit created by the parents, which can become very hostile depending on how the games goes. But if the student section is huge and amped, our Kadet spirit is through the roof. No joke the roof literally shatters. Yet the thing with game attendance is that it should not be picky. As a student body we shouldn’t just have a huge turnout for some sporting events, we should have a huge turnout for every sporting event- spread the spirit!

Case in point, there has been a lack of student section at JV and C-Squad games throughout the years. Lets change that! Gone are the days where our student section just cheers for varsity! Here are the days where c-squad and JV teams have the opportunity to bask in the glory of what is KADET SPIRIT! Here’s and idea: Attention all underclassmen, its a great idea to support your friends and school by going to c-squad and JV games. Ask your parents, siblings or friends to drive and pick you up to and from games. Heck, call a taxi- do anything to get your caboose to the nearest game and cheer so loud that your body literally explodes!

Air Academy even has clubs that promote Kadet spirit at games; the Kadet Krazies and the Kraziest Kadet Krazies. The Kadet Krazies is open to all students that have the drive and passion to foster the growth of spirit. There is even a “Kadet Krazie” game of the week where anyone who is anyone wears that year’s Kadet Krazie shirt and gets in for free, it’s like having your birthday once a week every week for a year! If you want to join the Kadet Krazies its never too late, just find the nearest Captain- Adam Brown, Hayley Rhein, Ben Self and myself, Nikol Podlacha! While the Kraziest Kadet Krazies is more exclusive and hard to get into, it is not impossible, you just have go above and beyond of just being spirited; you have to be 98% school spirit and 2% you.

Remember: Be there or be square.

Energy:
Do you like to shake hands with a dead fish? Of course you don’t. Then why would you show up to a game without energy? Just as I am the wind under your wings, energy is the wind under spirit’s wing. If you are at a game and there is a ton of other people with you, like the student section, what good are you if the required energy is not there? If you are experiencing problems with creating energy, there are three foolproof ways:

1: Get loud. If you ain’t loud, you ain’t proud! Being loud is more than just screaming like a banshee, it requires a sort of finesse. The best way to get loud is by starting a cheer, whether it be “party,” “bananas,” “baby shark,” “A-rumba,” or even just clever and witty things to cheer at our players. These are the things that get not only you loud but the whole stands. So when it comes time to cheer make sure you are clear, coherent and last but not least- LOUD!

2: Get amped: It is easy to get loud, as I have just explained above, but it is not as easy to get amped. What I am saying, of course it is! Even though as the winter months start rolling along and it gets troubling to stand outside in the cold atmosphere and the fact that you are watching your team doing what they love, even if they are losing, is exhilarating and sure to keep you toasty! You don’t choose the amped life, the amped life chooses you.

3: Spirit Wear: One word of advice: don’t you dare show up to a sporting even without wearing at least one article of clothing that shows that you go to the best school on earth- Air Academy. Wearing spirit wear also helps you connect to school and student body more because, I swear, there is like an invisible bond that links the student body together. And when a game starts to move along slowly and you seem to lose spirit you just have to drop your head and see an article of school wear you can’t help but feel a rush of energy and belt out one more time “Lets go Kadets!”

This brings us to the last ingredient of spirit…

Passion:

There is a moment in everyone’s lives where you got ask yourself “Do I really want it?” If the answer is yes then you have what I call P-A-S-S-I-O-N. You have to have passion in order for your Kadet spirit to have soul. You have to be proud of your school, what your school does and you definitely have to be proud of our athletes that bust their butts everyday to try and bring honor to our school. And you just can’t be proud and have passion for a couple hours out of the day or just during games, you have to eat, breath and sleep passion.

So I ask you, what’s a Kadet? A winner.