By Cassie Sheridan |
We are all too familiar with the rhythms that echo through campus on game days. Beats along with the chants that match are a reminder that there’s a home game that day. However this season in particular, the Villa Drum Squad has taken its show on the road and teams all over have begun to hear the same drumming those on The Bluff know well.
Two weekends ago, 30 students, with the help of an anonymous donation, flew down to San Diego to support the women’s soccer team against San Diego State. The weekend preceding this San Diego trip, 12 Villains piled into a couple cars and drove to Palo Alto for the Stanford game. This past weekend the drum squad made the trip to the University of Washington in Seattle in a university-sponsored fan bus for all students.
“It all kind of started with us traveling to Oregon on a fan bus,” said junior drum squad co-captain Connor Snashall. “With Palo Alto it was literally a last minute decision on a Friday night to just drive down there. Our trip to San Diego had actual planning.”
The Drum squad invited along 5 students from both Christie and Padre to join them on the trip. Although they were at first not allowed into the stadium due to noise ordinances, they chanted from outside the arena until being allowed in at halftime.
The women’s soccer team didn’t know the drum squad was coming along.
“There’s very little liveliness at San Diego State and we all went in with the mentality that we needed to bring that energy,” said senior defender/forward Amanda Frisbie. “Then, we are in the middle of warm-ups and I heard the drums and I was just like ‘There’s no way’ but there they were and suddenly I just felt like I was back at Merlo.”
The women’s soccer team is on a five-game winning streak and starts conference play this weekend, making their performance all the more important.
“Having Villa traveling with us has been an enormous motivator,” said senior goalkeeper Erin Dees. “They make every away game feel like a home game.”
Despite minor issues getting into stadiums with their equipment, the Villa Drum Squad has found the travel experience to other universities positive.
“It’s been cool at the away games talking to their athletic administrators,” said junior co-captain Jared Johnson. “Even though we are coming in and totally heckling their teams and their fans, they seem to really enjoy us coming in because it is such a new experience for a lot of the other teams. Even in San Diego, where we had some issues at first, they told us in the end how appreciative they were we had come.”
This increased emphasis on travel was as unplanned as their spontaneous trip to Palo Alto.
“It takes a really crazy, really dedicated group of guys to want to travel this much. Especially to hop in two cars and make a 10-hour drive,” Snashall said. “It’s awesome that we have level of commitment.”
This commitment to both travel and to the drum squad in general has been slowly growing for years.
“I mean, we’ve been talking about these things forever and how cool it would be if we just did this or that,” said junior co-captain Ryan Kain. “I remember being a freshman and talking about how awesome it would be to make a Tifo. Then slowly, we just started doing those things. Instead of being like ‘That’d be cool if we did that’, we are like ‘Okay how can we make this happen’?”
Senior past Villain Paul Auxier has noticed a significant increase in commitment as well.
“I think a lot of the guys involved in the squad from when I was a freshman wouldn’t even recognize this level of crazy,” Auxier said. “It’s seriously mental. We had like three or four guys that were that crazy, now there is 20. That’s a serious difference.”
In addition to their increased travel agenda, the drum squad has also significantly increased their social media presence. Beyond their Facebook page, the squad has developed a Twitter, Instagram and a Youtube channel with the ID, @VillaDrumSquad.
“We collaborate on the social media. We want to develop the culture of women’s soccer,” Snashall said. “It’s an exciting time with the new women’s professional league and we want to be a part of it.”
The drum squad this season has certainly lived up to their use of their hashtag #whereyougowewillfollow and are hoping to continue their support on the #roadtoNC.
The next game where Villa’s Drum Squad can be heard in Portland is against Gonzaga on Oct.19.
