School Spirit Traditions Return to Oklahoma Christian

With basketball season underway, Oklahoma Christian University is reviving a few old traditions for students to participate in at home games.

Nine Noises, a group promoting school spirit, will return this year under the leadership of Abby Lowry and Jonah Page.

Lowry said she hopes the school spirit surrounding Nine Noises brings more people to Oklahoma Christian sporting events.

“They (student athletes) are putting in a lot of work,” Lowry said. “They do school, athletics and everything in between and right now I don’t think they’re getting as much credit as they should be.”

Lowry said Nine Noises is comparable to the University of Oklahoma’s RUF/NEXs.

“(Nine Noises are) student section leaders, but also for the entire crowd,” Lowry said. “We’re helping the fans be more excited about what the student athletes are doing.”

Currently, Nine Noises is only making appearances at Oklahoma Christian home basketball games, but Student Leadership Coordinator, Katie Martinez, said the goal is to appear at every sports game as the year progresses.

Martinez said she remembers Nine Noises when she attended Oklahoma Christian, and she said several factors contributed to the group’s absence during the past few years.

 “From what I’ve gathered, there wasn’t consecutively nine people to lead,” Martinez said. “On top of that, the student section had basically depleted. Those were the main factors.”

The Oklahoma Christian Sweat Band is another group that provides school spirit. The Sweat Band is under the direction of University Band Director, Doctor George Schrader.

Schrader said the Sweat Band, like Nine Noises, assists in adding pep and school spirit to Oklahoma Christian sporting events. Unlike Nine Noises, however, the Sweat Band was directly affected by COVID-19, whereas the former had disbanded before the pandemic.

“The ensemble took a big blow due to the coronavirus,” Schrader said. “In recent past, the OC Jazz Ensemble served as the Sweat Band. We’re looking to grow our program so the Sweat Band can stand on its own as a major ensemble here on campus.”

The spring 2022 semester was supposed to be a comeback for the Sweat Band, but low enrollment numbers and absences related to the coronavirus prevented the ensemble’s return.

“We are working to bring things back, but to be sure we do it in the right way,” Schrader said. “We are fundraising to purchase new instruments for the ensemble and plan to work with the OC Cheer and OC Athletics to ensure we assist in providing a family-friendly, high-energy atmosphere to support our teams.”

Schrader also said the Sweat Band will recruit over the spring semester and the summer to ensure a full ensemble is ready by fall 2022.

“Anyone with past instrumental ensemble experience is welcome to be in Sweat Band,” Schrader said. “This is a great opportunity to earn an academic credit playing fun music and supporting OC Athletics.”

Schrader said students looking to participate in the Sweat Band do not need to audition but do need to be enrolled in MUSC 1351-01. Enrolling in this course will not only place students in the Sweat Band, but each member will also receive a scholarship and a course credit.

“The minimum (scholarship amount) would be $500, but may increase in cases of super-essential instruments, such as drum sets, guitars or bass,” Schrader said. “Also, anything the ensemble does regarding travel will always be free for the student.”

Schrader said anyone with questions or looking to participate in the Sweat Band should email him at george.schrader@oc.edu.

Regarding the spring 2022 semester, Lowry, Martinez and Page said they are anticipating this semester’s sporting events, especially as they lead Nine Noises to provide school spirit. 

“I’m looking forward to having a good time at games,” said Page. “I know things have looked a little different with COVID-19, but at the first basketball game of the semester, we had cheering, yelling and just a good game-day atmosphere. This was something I didn’t feel was present during the previous year.”

Nine Noises encourages students to come to the “white out” basketball games on Thursday, Jan. 27, which will feature food, games t-shirts and prizes, along with a chance to win money in the half-court shot contest. There will be a cookout hosted at 5 p.m. prior to the women’s basketball game starting at 5:30 p.m. with the men’s game immediately afterward at 7:30 p.m.