Terrific Traditions

It starts before the starter's gun fires. It begins before every jump ball - at home. Before every win and loss, even after the Fat Lady sings, many Central Indiana high school athletic teams participate in traditions and rituals. According to USA Today, Indiana is home to nine of the nation's largest high-school gymnasiums. Two of them - and their traditions - are located in Central Indiana.   At the end of the last home basketball game, the coaches and players of New Castle High School treat their fans in "The Fieldhouse" to a pizza party in the bleachers. With room for 9,325 spectators - although 10,000 have squeezed in for a big game - "The Fieldhouse" is the nation's largest gym.  Anderson High School's Wigwam has room for 8,996 spectators, making it the No. 2 gym in the country and state. However, the tradition occurring before every home AHS basketball game makes it No. 1 to Indian fans.   Lights dim. The capacity crowd chants and cheers. Into a single spotlight steps an Indian. He begins a dance with an Indian maiden waiting at center court. Linda Dunmire, representing the Indiana Room of the Anderson Public Library, says the Indian/Maiden dance tradition began in 1945. It has been written about in USA Today and featured in Sports Illustrated.  YouTube has several version of the dance available. But for some, the best way to recall the dance tradition is through moccasin memories. "I remember a crowded gym of more than 8,000 people. There couldn't have been any air-conditioning on because everyone was sweating," says Rochel Terry, who attended AHS in the mid-1980s and played in the school's band. "I remember the drum beating. You could feel the drum beat in your chest. Faster, faster and faster. The Indian would come running out onto the floor with his hands up and start a rhythmic dance to the drum's beat. The crowd would chant, and it was such a rush that you knew you couldn't lose that game that night."   Yet, winning and losing is more than subscribing to rituals and traditions. Winning and losing is more than hocus pocus and smoke and mirrors.   Well, sometimes, a little smoke can't hurt in a winning effort - especially if the smoke is coming from the woods. Dave Toner is in his ninth year as Roncalli High School's athletic director. He says the Rebels' traditional football game is against Cathedral High School. "We play them every week six of the season. We play for the Knights of Columbus Bell," he says. "We also have to play them in the sectional. Playing them twice has begun a tradition. We look forward to that." But since 1983, there's one tradition and ritual the Rebels use to prepare for victory.   At the Rebels' home field, the visitors enter the stadium through a traditional route: from the locker rooms. But not the Rebels. Being Rebels, after all, means to rebel. And no one, Toner says, does an entrance better than the Rebels.   "It's called 'From the Woods.' The Southeast end of our stadium is open," Toner says. "There are a bunch of trees. There's smoke and the team coming running down an incline into our stadium. Entering through the smoke is sort of like the (Indianapolis) Colts coming out for their game. We've been doing this for more than 20 years. I don't know what it does for the visitors to see it, but it excites our crowd and our kids." Typically all teams are psyched for the first game of the season. For Lawrence Central the first football game of the season has an added meaning, which has become a tradition.   Since 1985, the LC Bears and Lawrence North Wildcats play for the Dwaine Bell trophy. Sandra Walter, the Bears athletic director, says Bell was a longtime coach and employee of Lawrence Township. The game score is engraved on the trophy and the winner keeps it - and bragging rights - until next year's game.   "It's a tradition that is understood by everyone at both schools," says Walter, adding her team won this year's contest and the trophy is displayed in the school's common area. "When I got here nine years ago, I didn't know anything about it. Now, it is nothing less than fantastic. Lawrence North and Lawrence Central is huge. They are playing for the right to keep the Bell trophy. As the winning team, you want the trophy presented to you. The kids and fans love it." Nevertheless, there is one tradition that has nothing to do with fans; just student-athletes and coaches bonding. Regardless, for the past 11 years the Westfield High School girls cross country team has a tradition that has translated into winning. During the summer, the Shamrocks' girls have a week-long team camp. But instead of going to some remote location for team bonding, they remain at Westfield High School. The results? In head coach Scott Lidskin's 13th year, his team has won three consecutive state championships and four overall.  So coach, does your tradition equal winning? He's not telling.   "It's really neat. For the whole week, we live at the school. They bring in their sleeping bags and plop down. We do our training and then we have classroom time where we discuss racing tactics, nutrition, and how to be a good student athlete," says Lidskin, adding he typically has 25 to 40 girls on his team and this year's team has 38 runners. "I don't know if this helps us win later in the fall, but I do know the girls say it is a good team-bonding experience and they say by far the team camp is the highlight of the season," Lidskin says.   Since 2000, Lidskin's coaching colleague, Bo Belden, has lead the Shamrocks' football team. But when he took over the program, he says there was no tradition in place.  Don't tell anyone, but Belden borrowed one from another program. Watching college football, Belden saw Clemson players touch a rock as they ran on the field and thought it was a good idea. As a result, during the first week of summer's preseason conditioning, senior players paint a huge rock gold. Every player's name and uniform number is also painted on it. The rock is placed under the home field's scoreboard. When players run out on the field for warm up and the game, they touch the rock. Belden says the therapeutic touch isn't for luck or wishing for a victory, but rather, "it's something the players take pride in. It's theirs. It something that adds to our program. That is what makes it special."   And what makes it even more special is it is a ritual and tradition Shamrock players will remember for a lifetime. "That rock has been there as long as I can remember. This is a great tradition. No other school around here has this," says the Shamrocks' first year starting quarterback, Scott Harvey. "A lot of people have heard about the rock, but it's ours. It unifies us as a team," Harvey adds. "I play golf here, and I plan on playing college football. But this is a tradition I will always remember." And that's what traditions are for - to be remembered. -