In recent weeks there has been an outburst in boys, ranging in all grades and ages, who are dressing up “business casual” on Fridays with a boys home basketball game. Its name is Suit Friday.
What originally was a simple idea to support the boys basketball team has become a tradition. Suit Friday came along after senior Hunter Pieper and junior Alex Thorne had an idea to support their friends on the basketball court. “The basketball team was forced to dress up and wear suits during game days because some players on the team broke a team rule by not wearing the right apparel to school on game days,” Thorne said. “So after hearing that we came up with the idea to dress up with the team to show them our support,” he adds.
After a few group messages and a couple of social media posts, there was an organized event in support of the team. Originally, only a few people participated in the tradition, but now up to nearly 30 people have been spotted in suits for the recent home game. Suit Friday even got attention from the Spartan Pride twitter page, with a tweet stating, “Strictly Business at PVHS”, and a photo of those who participated on Jan. 24.
After the news spread about Suit Friday, it didn’t take long for the boys basketball team to recognize the support of those participating in the event. “I think Suit Friday is a great idea and should turn into a tradition. It brings professionalism and everyone looks good. It is also nice to see the support we get,” Senior Basketball player Jackson McLaughlin said.
Although the basketball team only had to wear the suits for two game days, the tradition will live on. “We see no stopping, the basketball team enjoys it and at the end of the day we look good for the ladies,” Thorne said.
From afar, some may see the new tradition as a joke because many of the participants are seen as “class clowns”, or sometimes even trouble makers. “On the outside it may seem like a joke or just a silly little thing we guys do but one of the things we want to do is to show people that we are more than just hooligans all the time and that we have a more sophisticated side to us as well,” Pieper said.
Those who participate in Suit Friday are quick to shut down the idea that this is an exclusive event that only some students can participate in. “We would love to have anybody who wants to join us to do so- it doesn’t matter if you’re a boy, girl, senior or even freshman. We include anybody that is interested in participating,” Pieper said.
*If interested in Suit Friday contact Alex Thorne or Hunter Pieper for more details*
