Swoosh! The sound of the net echoes through the gym. After three months of planning the Advanced Sports Marketing class finally gets to watch their vision come to life on the court. Structured as a bracketed basketball tournament, two classes would face off with the hopes of advancing to the final round. Each grade’s team was coached by two upperclassmen, all of the coaches were representatives from the sports marketing class team.
“The assignment was to put on a sports related event for all four of the grade levels,” Tatiana McAleenan (’25) said. “Since it’s basketball season, we just thought it would be a fun way to get the students engaged in Madison athletics, but once we started brainstorming, the project took on a life of its own.”
To allow themselves proper use of the allotted time and resources, the group felt a space away from the classroom would be the most efficient way to collaborate. The team ended up using a small office to the side of the marketing rooms. Though it was barely large enough to fit a table and chairs for the group of eight, the office acted as a home-base for the weeks leading up to the big game.
“Working in the marketing room helped us communicate better and get things done quicker because we were always in close proximity,” JD Farrow (’25) said.
Once things were set in motion, it was important to get backing from the activities office as well as admin’s stamp of approval. Without it they would reach a stalemate and be forced to rethink their whole project. Representatives from the team met with Madison’s Director of Student Activities John Kenny to flush out the plan.
“It was important to meet with activities because we had to be able to reserve the gym during Warhawk Time and have faculty workers set up the bleachers,” Oscar Espanol (’25) said. “We had to know the procedure for hosting school events so we would know we weren’t going to be breaking any rules.”
With the help of Kenny and other faculty members to get the administrative kinks worked out, it was up to the Warhawks to get everything else situated and prepared. Working down to the final minute, they made t-shirts for all the players, organized practices and successfully marketed the game to the student body. By posting flyers around the school and effectively utilizing social media the turnout come game day was substantial.
“We chose to make an Instagram to promote our event and used student photographers to help get our news out,” TJ George (’25) said.
Game days came with much excitement and anxiety. The first day of the tournament consisted of two semi-final games with freshmen and juniors facing off in Warhawk Time 1, and the sophomores and seniors during Warhawk Time 2. The juniors walked away with the win and the sophomores upset the seniors. The following week’s final matchup attracted even more students and faculty than before. Warhawk nation showed up and showed out for their respective classes displaying unwavering amounts of pride for their peers. The sophomores emerged victorious, making them the first underclassmen team to win a class versus class tournament in three years.
“Finally being able to watch the whole thing come together logistically was such a cool experience in itself,” McAleenan said. “But seeing everybody in the stands cheering for their friends was what made it really worth it.”