Hazing on Menlo Teams: A Tradition of the Past?

by ERICA FENYO

Girls soccer players walk the halls wearing costumes and accessories, girls water polo players spend the day with swimsuits stretched over their clothes and the football and boys lacrosse teams initiate their freshman teammates with crazy haircuts. On almost every Menlo sports team, the freshmen or new varsity players participate in an embarrassing ritual, usually on the day of their first home game.

teammates. “It’s kind of a big tradition to bring the whole team together when a lot of people get haircuts, so we did that before the playoffs,” Freehill said.

Riley agreed that the team culture welcomed the freshmen in the fall. “I definitely thought that the team culture was amazing,” Riley said. “For my first high school sport, I’m really happy that it was as good as football.” enjoyed it, so I’d say [the costumes] helped with bonding.”

After getting his hair cut by the seniors, Riley does not believe that the tradition amounts to anything meanspirited. “I know a lot of people can say that it seems like hazing, but I don’t really see it like that,” Riley said.

Still, rumors persist about boys who feel pressured into complying. Several team members and players’ parents declined to comment about the haircut tradition and whether or not it was a positive experience.

Several teams also participate in orientation rituals that are more temporary. The girls soccer team encourages the new varsity players to dress up in wacky costumes for their first game day.

The football team is most known for giving freshmen bizarre haircuts when they join the varsity squad for the playoffs, but this year some freshmen believe that the team turned a new leaf, as players are now given the option to participate.

When freshmen Palmer Riley and Jack Freehill got pulled up to varsity for the post-season games, both agreed to get their hair cut to bond with their

When COVID-19 canceled the tradition for the 2020-21 soccer season, senior Hannah Gorospe missed out on her opportunity to wear costumes with her teammates. Instead, she got to dress up as a junior during her first full season on varsity after hybrid learning. “Since so many other teammates had to wear costumes last year, I didn’t feel out of place,” Gorospe said. “I thought the costumes were really funny, and I even

Now that she is a senior on the team, Gorospe was excited to continue the tradition for the team’s first game on Jan. 18, 2023. “I think this tradition doesn’t really hurt anyone. It’s all in good spirits, and it gets us excited for our game later in the day,” Gorospe said.

On the girls water polo team, freshmen have the option to wear swimsuits over their clothes on the first home game day of the season. Seniors also design colorful signs advertising the upcoming games for the freshmen to wear as necklaces.

Only half of the water polo freshmen chose to participate, one of them being Kate Hirsch. “I feel like it wasn’t anything really embarrassing or demeaning and was definitely conducted in a very comfortable way,” Hirsch said. “Some of the other freshmen were a little bit hesitant, and the older teammates were receptive and weren’t forcing anyone to do anything.”

When she becomes a senior, Hirsch plans to continue the tradition. “I will probably continue it when I’m a senior unless other teammates really don’t want to since I don’t really see anything harmful with the tradition, but obviously people might have differing opinions.”