As the sun sets at Nelson Field, the energy is palpable. It is the LBJ Jaguar football team’s first home game, and the student section is out in full force. A sea of tie dye fills the stand, roaring with glee any time the Jags score and taking any chance they can to jeer the other team.

At the front of the crowd, the student section leaders and seniors Nick Venn, Tayo Ezekoye and Lily Sellers scream out chants through a purple cone and bang on a bucket with a wooden stick. The student section leaders are part of a long tradition of Jaguar pride that has been around for years, complete with its own unique cheers and gimmicks.

Venn was excited to continue the tradition.

“After seeing it from the perspective of just another student in the stands the last three years, I was looking forward to moving to a leadership position,” Venn said. “Being in front of that huge crowd, and seeing how excited they all get is a feeling like no other.”
Venn has been going to LBJ football games since he was in middle school. He still recalls his first game fondly.

“I just remember watching the game with my parents and wishing I could be a part of the student section,” Venn said. “Ever since then I knew I wanted to be a Jag, and I’m honored to be a section leader this year.”

Sellers also has experience with Jags football, but from a different perspective. For the past three years, Sellers was the LBJ school mascot.

“Being mascot was a great experience for me, but so far I’d say section leader has been even better,” Sellers said. “As the mascot, few people know who you are, but as section leader, you’re much more involved with the student section itself. In short, the main difference between the jobs is the outfit and the audience.”

Sellers doesn’t think that the adjustment from mascot to section leader has been a hard one. In fact, she credits much of her skill as section leader to her time as mascot.

“As the mascot I learned how to gauge the crowds’ level of excitement and hype them up more.” Sellers said. “As mascot, it was necessary to always have a really high level of energy, and I do the same thing as section leader.”

Unlike Sellers and Venn, Ezekoye draws his inspiration from the time when he was an athlete himself.

“I remember when I was playing basketball for LBJ, the crowd was always really quiet and not very hyped up,” Ezekoye said. “In fact, sometimes people would actually start booing when I was playing. So I tried to make sure that the attitude of our student section for these games was much better.”