Royal Brougham Pavillion’s seats are packed, everyone is standing and raising their pinkies in the air, holding their breath on the final serve. Students shout and cheer as the volleyball slams to the floor on the opponent’s side and Seattle Pacific University takes home the win. Pom poms wave in the air and peers give hugs and high fives in celebration.

The energy brought by students to SPU’s sports games is electrifying. Students get to enter for free and enjoy the various concessions, and they can also exemplify school spirit by enlivening the team as they play.

For third-year nursing student Kristin Grassell, coming to games is a key part of her student experience.

“I think the atmosphere is super fun and all the students get super engaged, and I just like supporting our teams,” Grassell said.

Students like Grassell get to be a part of something bigger than themselves and celebrate their peers, building spirit and community along the way.

The liveliness that fans bring to games infects student-athletes on the court, increasing everyone’s enthusiasm. Senior business major and middle blocker on the women’s volleyball team Hannah Hair knows exactly how much it matters.

“I think we do a good job building [energy] by ourselves on the bench, but it’s just a whole different ball game when people come and show up in the stands,” Hair said.

While there are a lot of great reasons to go to games, student involvement has changed drastically since the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditions and public events were lost for a handful of grueling years, but attendance is slowly inching back to pre-pandemic expectations.

Matt Samson, a fifth year business student and goalkeeper on the men’s soccer team, reflected on how isolating the pandemic season was when fans were not able to fill Interbay’s stands.

“It was a bit of a dark time. The Interbay stands were closed off…We’d have like 20 people lined up on each side of the fences to watch the games, or people watching from their cars, but that was pretty much it,” Samson said.

For Hailey Marlow, senior year business major and point guard for the women’s basketball team, the negative impact of COVID on student involvement was cut and dry.

“COVID kind of made things weird. Students don’t really come to games anymore,” Marlow said.

Though students are slowly coming back, Marlow knows that athletes currently expect everyone to show up without reciprocating support, and that students may not feel connected to SPU sports. She is now working alongside other student-athletes through the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in hopes to bridge the gap between their teams and the wider student body.

As SAAC President and Athletics Senate Representative for the Associated Students of Seattle Pacific, Marlow has advocated to restore school spirit through theme nights.

“I think creating incentive is what starts the ball rolling of a culture, because you kind of have to push people to go at first. No one’s just gonna all of a sudden show up,” Marlow said. “So I think if we have some theme nights, and are really intentional about making a couple [that are] really cool and really enjoyable, then it’ll be like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ll just come to games.’”

Not only are theme nights a creative way to make a simple game into an exciting school event, they are also a perfect outlet for SPU’s student body to come together.

“It kind of builds like more of a unity in the crowd. Everybody shows up dressed as one thing or with one theme and I think that is more fun,” Hair said.

The women’s volleyball team is hosting an upcoming “Pink Match” on Oct. 14 for their home game against Montana State Billings University, which will be the catalyst for the future of theme nights at SPU. Students and other members of the community are encouraged to come dressed in shades of pink, representing allyship for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“From athletes, to students from other groups, or whatever, it is just coming together and cheering and supporting for one common cause,” Marlow simply stated. “That’s what I want.”

To leave feedback about SPU athletics or submit ideas for upcoming theme nights, check out this Google Form.