Hinchada

Bam, bam. Rat at at a. The banging on the drums signal the start of another game at Intercolegial. I find the fans to be more fascinating than the games themselves. Never before have I seen this kind of fan support for high school teams just playing in a city tournament. At some games a school manages to fill over half of the bleachers with jumping, screaming students. Have I mentioned they have drums? Chants pour forth out of the group and at times it is hard to think much less hear anything that is going on on the floor. And the referee whistle? Forget it. Even if you could hear it you would still have difficulty distinguishing it from the whistles coming out of the stands. The hinchadas will all be color coordinated (school colors of course), most likely with some sort of face paint. Where I started to get overwhelmed was when they unfurled a flag that took every person to hold up and flutter, a flag that takes more than 10 people to just carry into the stands. These people have it together! Coordinated enough to get the flag over all of the students and often to have matching shirts, this level of planning is impressive. I’m not so amused by the fireworks going off (some even in the gym the final day of play), but it still amazes me the level of commitment they have to cheering. It doesn’t surprise me that it is part of every professional football game here, but for high school sports? It is so hard to describe you probably aren’t getting an accurate picture, so please, just take a look at the videos.