Pep band members Evan Osborn and Annabelle Jokisch, both seniors, said they have really enjoyed watching the teams do so well this season.
Osborn, a double major in International Studies and Urban and Regional Planning, plays mellophone.
“I never really liked sports until I joined Pep Band in high school, and ever since, I have made every single home game that I can, between basketball, hockey, and volleyball,” he said.
“People tell me all the time that I ‘bring the energy to the band’ if that tells you anything about how much I love it. Win or lose, I always try to keep the energy up and support the team,” he said.
He enjoys playing at the basketball and hockey games.
“I instantly fell in love with hockey from the moment I first walked into Goggin over three years ago,” he said. Being from a rural town in Indiana, he was already a fan of basketball. “But Goggin was a whole new world for me, even though the team had not quite been able to win that many games. This year, hockey has been absolutely insane!”
Osborn said he’s “absolutely speechless” that the hockey team has won nearly as many games this year (17) as his freshman, sophomore, and junior years combined (18).
“I never considered that I would be around when hockey would be nationally ranked,” he said.
Jokisch, a double major in Zoology and Environmental Science, also has enjoyed playing music at the games and participating in a special show on ice that they do at a hockey game once a year.
She has played baritone in the pep band all four years at Miami.
“It has been so enriching,” Jokisch said. “We have a pretty solid baritone section, we're all pretty close, and it is so fun to hang out at these games with all of them and the rest of my friends in the band. And it's such a great opportunity to bond with other students, getting rowdy, joining in those old chants, showing our school spirit together. The student section and pep band work together to get a lot of chants going.”
Jokisch added, “I honestly think that if I hadn't joined the pep band my freshman year, I otherwise would not have gone to basketball or hockey games, or at least not as often, which would have been an absolute shame.
"I love following Miami athletics now, and I can't imagine a spring semester where I wasn't heading to Goggin or Millett every weekend. This year, the atmosphere at hockey and basketball games has been truly unmatched, and it is absolutely heartwarming to see them have the success and receive the attention they so deserve.”