The Log - November 2016

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T he L og thelog@taboracademy.org

Tabor Academy’s Student Newspaper Volume 90, Number 2

November 2016

Photo by Photo Pool

Mr Quirk and Mr Peck hoisting the Holderness Day trophy for the last time.

The Last Holderness Day A tradition ends as another begins by Danielle Plunkett

As many people know, this year marked the last Holderness Day for Tabor students. As we acknowledge the end of an era, it is only appropriate to bring ourselves back to where all these the traditions began.

At the end of every fall season, all of Tabor’s field hockey, soccer, and occasionally football teams competed against our rivals from Holderness in a grand event of athleticism, sportsmanship, and community pride: Holderness Day. The rivalry was started in 1995 by Tabor headmaster Jay Stroud after he realized that many faculty members at Tabor, including himself, had come from Holderness, and that there were former Seawolves working at Holderness as well. Together with Holderness headmaster Rev. Brinton Woodward, Stroud initiated a contest between the schools and started a tradition to celebrate friendship and rivalry through athletic competition.

A main focus of Holderness Day was the inclusion of all athletes, varsity to sub-varsity. In creating the event, Stroud wanted to highlight the fact that JV and varsity teams are equally important to achieving a schoolwide championship. When it came to tallying the wins and losses for each school, he decided to give the JV games just as much weight in the overall score as the varsity games. “While it is natural to pay attention to varsity teams,” said Stroud in a Log article he wrote for the fifteenth anniversary of Holderness Day, “Tabor/Holderness Day celebrates the reality that every team is equally important and every team plays an Please recycle this paper.

Peer Counselling, p. 3. Poetry Corner, p.8.

equal role in the spirit and outcome of the day.” Holding every team to the same expectations and importance inspired everyone, fostering a greater desire to win and to support each team, no matter their level.

Tabor developed many Holderness Day traditions, including Spirit Week, banner-making, t-shirts, fight songs, chants, pep-rallies, and the burning of the blue bull, Holderness’ mascot, on Hoyt field. These traditions got students geared up for the event before game day, and created a sense of school spirit and anticipation as everyone prepared for a day of heated (but friendly) competition. Perhaps the most anticipated of these traditions was the handing over (or keeping) of the “Surf and Turf” trophy. Made by Tabor carpenter Rodney Fielding, the trophy has models of both schools’ mascots that can be moved to represent the winner of that particular year. After the winning mascot was raised above the other, the victorious school would keep the trophy until the next year when the competition begins again. Now Tabor is back in the ISL, and all of these traditions are coming to an end. After 21 years, Tabor and Holderness battled one last time for the revered trophy before putting away the rivalry for good. Ending such a big chapter of Tabor history may be sad for some, but now we are turning the page to a new opportunity in the ISL. Holderness Day will always hold a special place in the hearts of Seawolves who got to experience it, and its themes of pride, athleticism, and sportsmanship will undoubtedly continue to influence Tabor athletics. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram!


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