Part of an eight-year tradition, members of the varsity football team at Mountain Pointe distributed their away-game jerseys on Thursday to either a staff member or teacher of their choice, just in time for the last season game before playoffs.
The team has been handing out away and home game jerseys to their teacher or school employee of choice every season since 2002.
Just before the bell rings letting students out for the day, the entire varsity team scatters out through the school’s winding hallways as they visit their teacher of choice for the week.
Ian Moses, assistant principal and athletic director, said he started the effort as a way to honor those who have made a positive impact in the team members’ lives. Wanting the gesture to be similar to the school’s “Senior Walk,” Moses said this project, however, is refreshing.
“(The players) are the ones out on the field every Friday, but it takes everyone in the school community to get them there,” he added.
Senior Travonn White gave his away game jersey to his sophomore Spanish teacher Mary Catherine Boatwright, mentioning that “everyone just loves her.”
“To be chosen by one of our student athletes, to wear his jersey on game day, is a huge honor,” Boatwright said.
Moses was even given a jersey that day. While he normally declines them from the team, so as to let another person on the staff wear one, he wasn’t turning this one down.
Another senior on the team, Max Phillips, gave Moses his jersey along with a hug in the middle of a hallway. Moses said he’s known Phillips since he was a kid, and that made it special.
“I especially like this tradition because it is just one more way we foster relationships,” Boatwright said. “Just one more way we connect as a family — as the Pride.”
• Contact writer: (480) 898-4903 or dmartinez@ahwatukee.com
