East Syracuse Minoa High field hockey coach Kate Harris challenged her players, who were all dedicated and focused, to loosen up a bit. Harris said, “I had called them ‘boring’ the other day. They are very quiet this year. I am used to having a very loud team. I pretty much told them to let their weirdness out.”

As a team, they formally accepted the challenge. Literally. At the start of one of the ensuing practices, the entire team showed up decked out in formal wear, wearing either shirts-and-ties or brightly colored prom dresses.

Senior Kodi Smith thought up the idea in the aftermath of a loss. Searching for a way to switch things up, she began texting her teammates, who then began texting back pictures of potential outfits to wear. Senior Olivia Grabowski said, “At first we were all like, is she being serious? It was definitely a joke at first. I’m happy that the joke turned into something happening.”

The practice turned into a prelude for their annual tradition of dressing up in costume for a Halloween practice, wherein players in different student classes pick themes with which to adhere and coordinate. After the success of their impromptu dress-up day, Smith acknowledges that it might be tough to raise the bar, creatively speaking. “The seniors have ideas. We’re going to figure it out. We’re going to go all out, definitely.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Even in hard times, we do well to find ways to inject fun and levity into life, so that we are not too often overcome by grief and heaviness.