If you are a female athlete at Yorba Linda, you’ve probably had the joy of experiencing the“secret sister” tradition with your team. The “secret sister” tradition allows you to learn more about your teammates, and give them gifts to show your appreciation and encouragement. Before every away game during the season, you are assigned a person on the team. Then, before the day of the event, you go out and buy them a bag full of snacks and/or little gifts. Most teams also write small encouraging notes in the bags.
If your team participates in this tradition, you are well aware of the stress that comes with it. First off, how will you know what to get them or what to write? What if you don’t get them enough? How will you get them the gift without them finding out that you’re their secret sister? Everyone who has done this with their team knows how stressful it is to get it to one of their classes without them seeing you, taking abnormal routes around school just to avoid them, or just running around the school trying to find a class you’ve never been to. Shopping for the gift is just as hard, because you want to get them everything they have on their list, but most of the time there’s a budget. On the other hand, if you don’t want to spend that much and you’re just buying a bunch of snacks because you have to, then you’re trying to find ways to buy a lot of snacks for little money.
Although this is a stressful tradition, there are also many joys to it. When you walk into your class and you see a gift bag sitting on your desk, calling your name, you can’t help but get excited. When you read the note with encouraging words for the game ahead, you can’t help but smile and laugh. During break, when everyone is trying to figure out who they have by analyzing the handwriting and the packaging, it is a fun team event that gets everyone involved and unified. The best feeling in the world is when your person comes to the game, and they ask everyone who had them because they loved their gift of the day.
We asked some female athletes around campus what they think about the secret sister tradition; “I love giving gifts to my friends and, I love walking into class and seeing the big gift bag with a cute bow on top with my name on it,” Faith Alam (11) stated. We also asked freshman Sanaya Patel (9) about her thoughts on this tradition, and she stated: “I love secret sisters, and it’s fun trying to figure out what to get your person, and who gave you your gift.”
Even though overtime the expenses add up and it gets expensive to spend ~$15 a week, it is all worth it in the end when you’re enjoying your gift and watching your teammates enjoy theirs. It is something fun that allows you to grow closer bonds with your teammates and create a true sisterhood bond that will last past high school.
