School Spirit Adopts A Dress Code
ESCONDIDO — The boys’ varsity water polo team at San Pasqual High School was defeated by its own Speedo swimsuits last week.The team was forced to forfeit its first preseason game Sept. 5 against Patrick Henry High after all but two team members were suspended from the game several days earlier for defying school administrators by wearing their Speedos at a school event.On Sept. 1, 15 of the team’s 17 players ran onto the school’s football field during “Jersey Night,” an event that honors the school’s athletes, wearing nothing but a swim cap and a Speedo swimsuit in front of a crowd of parents, students and staff members, the team’s coach said.
Don’t know if it’s because I’ve been around pools too much, or some school administrators haven’t been out of their offices enough, but I’m just laughing. Not just at suburbanites getting their panties in a wad over men’s swimwear, but that some bureaucrat would expect some of the most aggressive, in-your-face athletes I’ve ever seen (water polo players) to not take such a silly order as a challenge.
Glad to see the coach sticking up for his team though.
“Why is this such a horrible, terrible thing? The boys were essentially showing spirit and enthusiasm for their sport,” [the boys' coach] said. “Nothing they did that night was intended to be offensive or derogatory in any manner.”
. . .
But [the coach] said many teams don’t have jerseys, and ultimately, his players were showing school spirit, which was what the event was all about.
Different team, same concept, from a calendar done by the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo team a few years back.
Sorry the team had to forfeit the game, but certainly hope they didn’t learn whatever lesson it was the school was trying to teach.
Well, we can’t actually allow kids to have fun at a high school event, now can we?
No, that would be wrong.
UPDATE: New article with more details in today’s Union-Tribune.
…sigh…
One word….defiance.
That’s a very nice word.
For all of you who come via search engines looking for a certain Cal Poly team photo, it’s not here. It never was here. I have no idea why the search engines think my site is more appropriate place to find that photo than the team’s own site.
There’s a text link in the post above directly to the photo on the Mustang team website, but please visit the team’s site at http://www.menswaterpolo.calpoly.edu/ for more information, additional photographs, and to support their men’s water polo team.