My kind of mascot

My+kind+of+mascot

Senior Marissa Salber felt the stares on her as she walked to her first period. No doubt people were wondering what she was carrying in her arms. Not everyday do you see someone carrying a stuffed horse almost the size of you in the hallway. Little did everybody know today was a special day for 13 girls. The few who knew what Kevin symbolized wished her good luck in the hallway and patted the stuffed horse on the head. It was game day.

 

The girls on the MN Varsity Volleyball team carry around a horse named Kevin on game days. He is their own little personal mascot that the whole team adores. The girls found Kevin in a storage closet at school, long-forgotten, and decided to make him their own team mascot.

 

“When we went to state my sophomore year we just brought Kevin along for the ride. We saw him again in the storage room right before State the next year. After we lost the championship I carried him around all day at school because someone dared me too. Then it just kind of stuck for this year,” Salber said.

Kevin, although a great mascot, has mysteries surrounding him. Like, where did he come from? Or, why was he in the storage closet? As Junior Izzy Lukens likes to joke, does he come from outer space?

After having Kevin, the girls recently found out his real name. Their head coach Lindsay Peterson had named him Travis before she knew the girls had named him Kevin. Now they call him Kevin Travis, Travis being his middle name.

The girls decided Kevin had a better ring to it and it would be too weird to change it. Now his actual name is more of an inside joke between the players. The horse’s name is known as Kevin by other staff and students.

The varsity volleyball team started carrying Kevin around this year and have decided to make it a tradition. Kevin is a great source for team spirit and gets the girls ready and excited to play. It took some time for the girls to adjust to carrying him around. Kevin draws a lot of attention from passersby in the hallway even though that’s what they want. At the same time, it helps rally people to come build and support team spirit.

“I didn’t like him at first, but he’s grown on me. I definitely get looks, but I also get a lot of people saying good luck to me. It feels really good,” Allie Kerns said.

By this time a lot of people know what it means when they see Kevin in the hallway or in their classes. Many even stop by and wish good luck. Kevin is starting to become more and more popular. Teachers and students alike look forward to seeing Kevin in the hallway on game days.

“Now my teachers are like “‘Oh! Where’s Kevin? Its game day,’” Salber said.

The volleyball team loves Kevin and does take him to most if not all of their games. But the girls say he is not something that is an absolute necessity in order to win the game.

“I think Kevin gets us excited, but I don’t think that he is the only thing that makes us win. Us working together makes us win, but Kevin keeps us together in a way and gets us ready for the game,” senior Paige Holdsworth said.

So next time you see Kevin in the hallway, be sure to say good luck because now you know what he means. It’s gameday.

 


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