The long standing tradition of having themes at varsity football games has evolved over the years, and continues on to this year’s football season. Every year, Devil’s Den gets new seniors who run the group and pick a large variety of themes to unveil at every football game over the season. The seniors compile a list of unique themes to make the students and staff ecstatic and enthusiastic about the games.
“What they’re doing and working on right now is creating a really positive fun environment and engaging students in school spirit,” Devil’s Den advisor Meg Pierce said.
In Grosse Pointe, football has always been a big deal, but that is especially relevant this year with the number of people in the crowds going up and up.
“The last few home football games have been really great and the most packed they’ve been in a long time,” Pierce said. “It’s creating a really good environment for everybody to come, whether you’re a football fan or not.”
Aside from the effect of the themes on the students and faculty, football players enjoy how the themes and dressed-up student sections make them feel very supported and extremely confident, according to Varsity Football player Lex Wilson ’25.
“It’s cool seeing everyone in the theme and I think it brings more people to the game, even if they’re not there to watch football,” Wilson said.
Regardless of how important football is at South, many other sports teams deserve the same amount of enthusiasm and support football gets. South has an exceptional sports program that services many athletes that attend the school. Excluding football, most sports have a small fan section, mainly consisting of parents and siblings.
“It would be nice to have more people watching you,” Girls Swim and Dive team member Madeline Maks ’26 said. “We put in a lot of hard work and it would be nice to get some recognition for it.”
Over the past few years, the Swim and Dive team has had a small handful of themes at their meets, but even then only a few students showed up to support the group. The main reason for the absence of attendees was the lack of advertisement for the event. Contrary to belief, the Devil’s Den is supposed to arrange every student section at every sporting event at South.
“Any team can reach out and suggest a theme or ask for a post to bring up attendance at sporting events,” Pierce said. “Students seem to think that Devils Den is only for football, but it’s not. Devil’s Den is about school spirit and pride, that’s all.”
