As the preparations for winter sports begin and all the practices, training, and hard work start to ramp up, so does the Spartan Athletic band, or A-band. This year’s A-band had its first rehearsal Nov. 26th, and with one of their biggest rosters yet, they’ll be ready to put the fight in our players.

The A-band, responsible for playing at the basketball games, is a group that not many people think about, but it supports the basketball teams by creating a great environment and a home field advantage, which can be an amazing asset for the team and could pump them up, making them perform better. Nathan Griffin, the FHC band teacher and the person who formed the A-band, organizes the group with just that fact in mind.

“Our group, A-band specifically, truly exists only for the sole purpose of creating atmosphere for those basketball games in support of our basketball teams,” Griffin said. “Now, of course, we have our own fun, but that’s truly why we exist.”

While it may have hundreds of members now, before 2008, there was no A-band at all. Griffin, having a deep passion for music and for basketball, saw a chance to do something great for the community.

“The principal just said, ‘Man, we would love to have this.’ And truth be told, I played basketball in high school.” Griffin said. “And so when they said they had a need, I said, ‘I’m your man. I can do this.’ And so we started it in 2008 that first year with just 50 and it’s grown to the hundreds that we have now.”

Despite its humble beginnings, many people have found that it’s a great addition to the community. One person in particular, Senior Maggie Hendricks is quite passionate about A-Band and the community it creates.

“I love it, even though it’s tiring. It’s super fun,” Hendricks said. “I mean, it’s a volunteer thing, and we have 120 people this year. So I think that says a lot.”

 And the players on the field seem to enjoy it as well, players like Junior Sam Taylor finding the passionate playing and cheering of the A-Band fueling their performance.

“It brings a lot of togetherness, you know, and I like how it’s all rowdy, and it brings energy to the gym,” Taylor said. “It definitely helps me, because I like to know that there’s people that watch us and like, encourage us.”