The heart of spirit: Sun Devil spirit captains

Editor's Note: The following is a column by Nick Prete, undergraduate student journalist at ASU.

You open the doors to the maroon gym at the Sun Devil Fitness Complex, walk in and see that everything is normal. The wood floors shine in the light of the overhead florescent bulbs. The basketball hoops hang hauntingly in the air. The fans make a light hum in the background. There's a quiet hush that engulfs the gym but in less than an hour, quiet will be a thing of the past.

This is the gym where the student spirit captains will come together from all over the Tempe campus to begin their year hyping up the Sun Devils. A relatively unknown position to most students, these proud and few take the responsibility of getting students amped up for sporting events very seriously.

In the past you may not have noticed these heroes of spirit, but now that their positions have grown they will be hard to miss. They'll be hosting away-game celebrations, bringing ASU spirit to Mill, giving out spirit citations for wearing gold, and lots of other things to cultivate Sun Devil spirit. They're also all over your campus and residence halls decorating and promoting ASU sporting events.

The student spirit captains are commissioned by the Sun Devil Coalition (SDC) which strives to promote ASU spirit, pride and traditions. In one of the spirit captain's new events, ASU fans will be invading Mill four hours before every Sun Devil home game (except homecoming) in a celebration called Devils on Mill. At this tailgate, there will be free food from different merchants on Tempe, live music, lots of fans/misters and discounts for your favorite stores on Mill.

But if going out of your comfort zone and down to Mill isn't your thing, then you can find these spirit captains all over your own campus. They put up posters, organize viewing parties and bring school spirit to everything on your campus involving ASU sporting events. They're helping us change the look of a little thing called school spirit here at ASU – taking it from something small and turning it into a full blown epidemic with their love for our university.

So jump on the bandwagon and let's cheer on our ASU sports with the help of the student spirit captains and the Sun Devil Coalition!