“Let’s Go Setters!” “Go Team!” “Go Dogs!” are all chants that can be heard during Pace sporting events. Athletes will often say them during team huddles before taking the field, or from the sidelines when a teammate makes a good play. It’s all meant to encourage teammates and to build a positive aura around the team.

But why has chanting become such a tradition in sports? Why is it that seemingly every team has come up with their own chant?

“The whole point of having a chant is to get stoked for the game, meet, or event that is about to occur,” said freshman swimmer Katie Scarlett Loughlin. “When everyone is all-in and screaming out their teams’ chant, it helps get the team members zoned in and in the mood; it’s a great feeling to be a part of it.”

Sports chants, as mentioned by Loughlin, really play an integral part in team dynamics. It is used as a weapon of positivity, meant to not only boost morale, but to also build a sense of community amongst team members. The repetition of these chants during every game- whether it be after each good play or a team huddle- help the chant become a mantra of sorts.

According to dictionary.com, a mantra is “a word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation”. That seems to be exactly what these chants do for their respective teams.

While not necessarily used for meditation in sports, they do aid in helping players concentrate on the ultimate goal, which is to win the game. “Chants get a team going. It keeps the players in the game, focused and energetic,” said senior short-stop Jeane Drury. “Sometimes they could rattle the other team as well.”

Some of the best chants are loud and intimidating and can easily strike fear into the hearts of their opponents.

But really good chants also involve the support of the fans. The roar of a sell-out crowd chanting their team’s mantra can be enough to make any opposing team appear weak and can provide the home team with a huge advantage.

The effect that chanting has, what the chant is and how it is portrayed, varies from team to team.

“One chant or celebration we do is whenever a hitter gets an extra base hit we make a U shape with our hands, and everyone in the dugout does the same thing and we all yell out ‘The U’. The new thing this year is that we have been calling ourselves ‘The U’ (university) of Division II,” said junior pitcher Dylan Mouzakes. “The motto for this year is that we are all brothers so we are always chanting ‘come on brotha’ or something of that nature. Another big chant that we do that motivates everyone is when someone gets a big strikeout or out we all say ‘HELL YES.’ All of these chants motivate us and we have a lot of fun with them.”

Mouzakes’ explanation of the baseball team’s chants shows not only the message and reasoning behind them, but how branding a chant, in a sense, can really further help increase morale.

It might take a while for everyone to catch on to “The U” mantra for Pace baseball, but positioning themselves as “The U” of Division II (seeing as the University of Miami is known as “The U” in Division I sports) is an example of just how powerful these sports chants can become.

Regardless of whether they are used for motivation or for intimidation, sports chants have become a tradition in sports.

“I think they are so popular because they bring teams together, which gets everyone in the competition mindset,” Loughlin said. “It’s a great ‘team’ building aspect because you really feel like you belong to something and its super fun.”