My first piece of gear was a tank top designed by the team captain with “Dartmouth Squash” written on the front and “Caughey” written across the back. I was obsessed with it. As a walk-on, I was nervous about becoming part of the team, but with the tank I felt like I was officially a member.
The unofficial uniform of a varsity athlete: green and white sneakers, a Dartmouth-issued backpack complete with sport identification and a gray sweatshirt embroidered with the Big Green ‘D.’ Whether we’re walking to class, sitting in FoCo or leaving Floren, we’re easy to spot. Our bold attire helps us intimidate our opponents (and potentially even our NARP classmates), but it also serves a more important purpose: displaying our deep Dartmouth pride.
We don’t get to keep all our gear, and some teams get more than others. Take my squash team for example. In terms of gear, we really had an up-year. Our coach handed us puffy coats, slick black backpacks, shoes and long-sleeved shirts. The men’s squash team, on the other hand, did not fare so well — they came out of the season with only a nice jacket and shirt.
For some teams, ordering gear is a chance to express individuality. The crew team, for example, recently created shirts inscribed with “FROWZEN,” the men’s squash team ordered camouflage print shirts to commemorate its wilderness training trip and the field hockey team made bright pink tanks in honor of breast cancer awareness.
While these shirts are fun to wear around campus, our uniforms are our most meaningful attire. In the sports world, looking good has forever been associated with playing well. Having an official look on game day is largely about personal confidence. If you feel less official than the players standing across the field, you’ll lose the game before it begins.
Wearing that Dartmouth green is about more than looking fierce and intimidating opponents. When you stand with your team pre-competition, the uniform’s role as something much more than just clothing becomes evident. We come together to function as one green and white machine, where each individual part must work together for the betterment of the whole. With squash and other individual sports, the cohesion that uniforms provide is crucial. I remember walking onto the court for my first collegiate match feeling nervous and very alone. Looking outside the court to see my teammates dressed in Dartmouth green supporting me, however, immediately made me feel at ease. Though it may sound cheesy, sports are about representing our school and coming together as a team. As our coaches constantly remind us, our actions on game day directly reflect our school.
Uniforms heighten our competitive focus. It simply takes pulling on a shirt with “Dartmouth” embroidered across it to become an official, victory-hungry, game-ready, mentally focused, intimidating and physically tough Dartmouth athlete. Every time we don our white and green, we have flashes of the most exciting moments these jerseys have seen — glorifying wins to heartbreaking losses. For our match against Columbia University, which was probably our biggest win this season, we wore our brand new dresses. At 4-4 in matches and 2-2 in games, our captain Kate Nimmo ’14 came back to win the fifth set and consequently the match. I was so happy for her and proud to be a member of the women’s squash team. Every time I put on my uniform I think about how it felt to represent Dartmouth at that moment.
Our green and white attire sends a message: we are a force to be reckoned with, and our Big Green pride is woven into every fiber of our being. Whether we are coming straight from practice to FoCo or suiting up to play an Ivy opener, gear plays a constant and important role in the lives of varsity athletes at Dartmouth. While we may brag about our new Nike Frees or Dartmouth half-zip, our athletic gear is about more than looking great. It allows us to express our Dartmouth pride and show our love for our programs — and it’s an excellent way to wear sweats to class without judgment.
