By Ryan Duffy
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Every year, the Senior Class carries on the tradition of Big Game and Wild Bunch by attending as many sporting events as it can to cheer on the various sports team at our school. This year, seniors Zane Anderson and Justin Batten are co-presidents of Big Game who said they’re making an effort to improve the spirit of this year’s Senior Class. They said they have big plans to make Big Game even better this year than last.

Batten said he and Anderson are putting a lot of emphasis on getting more students involved in sporting events this school year.

“We’re planning to get the group more involved in all the sporting events outside of just the main events, like football and basketball,” he said. “I think by having a good attitude and also being open to new ideas, we can get more guys interested and involved in the club this year.”

Anderson said he hopes to expand involvement in the club by having more events than the group did last year.

“We’re planning to make every tailgate better than the last year’s group, and we’re really striving to hit the club sports with as many fans as the bigger sports,” he said. “We’re also going to be collaborating with Wild Bunch on tailgates and social events a lot for this year.”

Each club at this school has a sponsor, usually being a teacher or other staff member. Big Game is sponsored once again this year by science teacher Dale Herr. Herr said that even though he is the sponsor of the club, he likes to let the students handle most of the work, because it is indeed a student club.

“I set some basic parameters concerning things like expectations of behavior and the scope of the club,” Herr said, “and then turn it over to the students. This is their club, not mine.”

Batten and Anderson said they have reached out to social networking sites to help increase the involvement in the club for this school year.

“We’re making the club more accessible with a Facebook group and possibly a Twitter account to let everyone be able to have all the information about the next game or event without having to take too much effort to know about events,” Anderson said.

Batten said he also wants to break down social barriers for the club this year and get a different assortment of guys to come out.

“I really want to see Big Game outreach more to different types of social groups,” Batten said. “Last year the group was geared more toward one group of guys, and that’s not fair, because it’s everyone’s senior year, and we all need to be out there enjoying it.”

Anderson said his main point of emphasis is to get the group to get more involved in club sports for this year. Anderson was a member of the lacrosse team last year, which is a club sport he hopes to see more Big Game members attending.

“We really want to make the sports that people don’t usually go to as much, like hockey, rugby, lacrosse, track, volleyball, and baseball and softball, just as fun and enjoyable for the senior guys as football and basketball games have been,” he said. “As seniors we need to know our responsibility to lead the way in everything, including having a good time and having support for all of our athletic teams.”

Herr said he expects the leadership and members of Big Game to do a good job with the club this year.

He said, “My expectations of Big Game is that the membership should seek out other athletic venues, other than the major football and basketball games, to show school support and spirit. I hope to see just as much spirit from the 2010-2011 Big Game Club as I saw last year, but with a bit more panache.”