By: Austin Herrington Feb 20th 2019
Student section in blacked out theme in Women’s Basketball Game against Viterbo. (Austin Herrington)
Mayville State Students filled up the student section Tuesday Feb 19th in a blackout theme for the first round in the NSAA Conference Tournament against the opposing University of Viterbo V-Hawks.
At the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, Mayville State created the Student Athlete Advisor Council (SAAC) which consisted of many representatives from the athletics here at Mayville. Their goal as a council is to get more student athletes involved at the sport games in a fun way.
The first theme night they started was with the MSU Volleyball team in the fall of 2018. This continued in the Lewy Lee Fieldhouse with all the indoor sports.
A student section was also created which has become known as the “Mayville Maniacs” and became available at all sporting events.
Student athletes from football, baseball, and softball as well as the student body and community in Mayville filled the stands Tuesday and cheered on the women’s basketball as they played the Viterbo V-Hawks.
Before the SAAC was created, there were theme nights that the students could enjoy but there was no active way to let them know. Now with the council, student athletes alike have their fellow peers and teammates to let them know of what events are happening.
The student athletes at the game have been a part of many different theme nights at the school including comet pride night, jersey night, pajama night, costume night, and even ugly sweater night during the holidays.
Whiteout has also been implemented just on Wednesday when the men’s basketball team played the University of Viterbo in the first round of the NSAA Conference Tournament.
Alissa Foster, who plays both Women’s Basketball and Softball for Mayville, is one of the board members for SAAC and personally loves theme nights for sporting events.
“It brings the student body together,” Foster said. “I think it can help all of us [student athletes] because it gets people to come to games to support other students that are at Mayville,” Foster added.
Foster also stated that it makes a more “fun environment for our student body to come as one and show how close we are as a student body and community.
Students at the school love theme nights as it brings together unlikely groups that you normally wouldn’t see. Brett Bantle, a freshman at Mayville said, “it provides freshman with an opportunity to get out and meet others.”
Bantle continued to say, “it also gives us something to do during the week.”
When the theme nights come out in the community everyone likes to come out and support.
The biggest role the theme nights play to someone is the athletes playing at that moment. Haley Anderson, plays for the Women’s Basketball team, said, “the students help bring the energy.”
Anderson then said, “they create a fun atmosphere for the players to play in.”
When it comes to the best theme though there is no real competition for the best. “I don’t think there is a specific theme night that’s best,” Anderson said.
“I do think when we have theme nights, it brings in a bigger student section so I think theme nights in general are a good idea,” Anderson finished off with.
If you are ever around when the sporting events have theme nights going one don’t be shy to participate and support the Comets.
The Women’s Basketball team and Men’s Basketball team ended up winning. Both of the teams made it to the championship game in the Conference tournament bot only the Men’s won the tournament.
The men’s basketball team will play in the National Tournament against Morningside College on March 7th in Sioux Falls, S.D.