Whether it be rackets held in the air or teams in tight huddles, each sports team in Lynbrook has their own pre-game traditions and chants meant to liven the team’s spirit and show off school pride. These spirited chants motivate the teams to play their hardest, no matter the outcome.

Varsity Girls Tennis

Varsity girls tennis can be found at the courts enthusiastically raising their rackets toward the sky before their matches.

“V-V-V-I-K-I-I-N-G-S! V-I-K-I-N-G-S! Go Vikings!”

“This chant brings everyone together, especially before we go separate ways to our specified court,” junior Anne Sakai said. “Our captains also give us small speeches which motivate us and put us in the right mindset before our game.”

After their cheer, the players run down the courts to their lineup before high-fiving their teammates as they are called out to play. Then the match begins.

Varsity Girls Volleyball

Known for not only acing their serves but also their game cheer, varsity girls volleyball tightly huddle up and fiercely stomp as they begin to chant.

“Good luck, good luck, good luck, good luck, good luck, good luck, good luck. Vikings on three! One! Two! Three! Vikings!”

“When all of the team is hyped for the game and shows excitement during the cheer, our cheer can give us a lot of energy,” senior Sruti Elangovan said. “We are our own cheerleaders; if the people on the bench and the players on the court are all energetic, then we play well.”

The team makes sure to support every player’s winning shot to further motivate the players on the court. They yell out “Y-M-C-ACE” when a player scores with an ace or “She’s huge!” when a player performs a winning shot.

Varsity Girls Water Polo

At the pool deck, varsity girls water polo can be found crouched over the pool gutter to yell out their chant. Their cheer is performed at the beginning of every game and end of every practice and can be led by anyone on their team.

“Who let the dogs out? Who? Who? Who?”

Their unique cheer was formed when the team played Palo Alto High School, whose mascot is the Vikings as well. To differentiate themselves from Palo Alto’s chant, the team came up with their own chant derived from Baha Men’s “Who Let the Dogs Out.”

“We were the underdogs, so it made a lot of sense to make a dogs chant,” senior Lauren Yee said.

“The cheer definitely makes us more spirited,” junior Allison Wu said. “It raises morale and makes us play better as a team.”

Football

Before the start of each match, Lynbrook’s football team gets ready to play as they group up near the side of the field and listen to the coach’s pre-game speech. The chant, led by the team’s seniors and juniors, energizes the players and the lively audience in the bleachers behind them. They shout out their chants every chance they get: at the end of practices, between quarters and before each game.

“Family on me! Family on three! One! Two! Three! FAMILY! ”

“The chant is a way to get everyone locked in and to get the energy up before the game,” sophomore Aditya Jain said. “It also hypes up the crowd and gets them excited for our game, and sometimes helps them start their own chants.”

The team also shows off their school spirit through “vikejacks”: jumping jacks where the players call out a letter of the word “Vikes” after each jumping jack and end with “Vikes!” three times in succession.

Girls Field Hockey

As a sign of unity and team spirit, girls field hockey huddles with their sticks firmly clasped and gathered in the center of their circle.

“Rah hockey on three! Rah hockey on three! One! Two! Three! RAH HOCKEY!”

At the start of each game, players run to the rock near the end of Stober Field and clack the rock with their sticks.  Depending on how they feel during their games, mid-game cheers can range from their usual “RAH HOCKEY!” to “ENERGY” or even “ROTISSERIE CHICKEN!” On home game days, the players wear kilts and gather in the quad during brunch to perform their cheer.

“This was started because of Sandi Stober, who founded the field hockey program in the district,” senior and co-captain Samantha Leong said. “These chants are one of the traditions that we have kept ever since our hockey team has existed.”

Girls Cross Country

After warming up with their usual stretches, the girls cross country team prepares for their race by calling out a fierce chant.

“V-I-V-I-K! V-I-K-I-N-G-S! Vikings! Say what? Say what? Lynbrook! Here we go! Here we go! Go Lynbrook!”

“The chant gets us into our racing mindset and gets us hyped up,” senior and team captain Patricia Chang said. “We usually do a pep talk before, so the cheer is our last moment together as a team until we see each other after the race at the finish line.”

Another team tradition is to have each runner wear matching hair ribbons in their ponytail for race days. These ribbons are in Lynbrook’s colors—red, white and blue—and also match the team uniforms. It adds another level of unity to the team and exemplifies their school spirit.

Varsity Boys Cross Country

Varsity boys cross country huddles up in a circle off the side of the track away from the starting line before their race, expressing both their academic and athletic spirit.

“Secant, tangent, cosine, sine! 3.14159! 1600 SAT! We’re all taking 5 APs! Go Lynbrook!”

“Our chant helps clear our nerves before the race and gets us into the racing mood, which means starting the race with a ruthless attitude,” senior and team captain David Marchal said.

The humorous chant originates from Lynbrook’s stereotype as an academically-oriented school.

“We play off that bias through that chant, essentially feeding off of that stereotype,” Marchal said. “This makes people underestimate us on our athletic abilities and when we beat them, it makes our win that much better.”