When game day rolls around, on top of uniforms, backpacks and equipment, you’ll often find a small bag in my hand: a buddy gift.
Buddy gifts have been a tradition for years now, implemented with the intention of fostering team bonding and team spirit. At the beginning of the season, the captains will assign buddies across the team. Typically an underclassman is paired with an upperclassman to bridge the gap between veterans and the new additions to a team. On the morning of a game or match, buddies will meet in the morning and exchange bags. Buddy gifts typically include a small snack, a drink and a sweet treat.
“I love buddy gifts because they help you meet new people on your team and help other people get to know you,” Miranda Dine (’25) said.
Like many other student athletes, I enjoy the practice of buddy gifts. It adds an additional element of excitement to the week, allowing students to connect inside and out of school. As many people do, I wait until the last minute, usually the night before, to go get my buddy’s gift. Often, I’ve run into another teammate, and together we’ve shopped for our buddies. With the exchange of buddy gifts the following day, there is almost always the sharing of snacks whether it is across the team or with friends.
“My favorite thing about buddy gifts is getting a new person every week because I get to get a small gift for someone new and also get to know another member on the swim team a little better!” Dine said.
People have always gathered and connected over food, and buddy gifts are no exception. They allow the opportunity to talk with people often about the upcoming games or preference for food, but it also leads to other avenues of conversation. Beyond connecting, buddy gifts provide a time to try something new, whether it be chips, candy or a drink.
While I am a proponent for buddy gifts, I understand the resistance to participating in them every week. The cost of buddy gifts can pile up. Parents disapprove of the constant buying of junk food for a teammate every week and it’s difficult to commit to buddy gifts when one has to pay with their own money. Additionally, coaches, parents and athletes alike can agree spending the day snacking on a gift low in nutritional value is not necessarily beneficial for games and matches.
“While I love doing buddy gifts, the downside is that I have to pay for a gift week,” Lucy Griepentrog (’25) said. “I have to spend a lot of money and people are always expecting something like a big bag of chips or a king size bar.”
In spite of some of the drawbacks that come with buddy gifts, I believe they encourage more growth and positivity than the cost they expend on athletes. These gifts provide more than their material value. They are intrinsic to the integration of the team and the tradition has seamlessly woven its way into sports tradition at Madison. At the end of the day, the goal of buddy gifts is not to push athletes to be at their physical best, but rather an encouragement and appreciation of the dedication to the sport and their team.