A common sight at football and basketball games is the beloved Freddie the Falcon. Accompanied by his partner in crime, Franny the Falcon, this dynamic duo collaborates to pump up the crowd at our home sporting events through various dances, gestures and interactions.
According to assistant principal Karen Hyde, becoming a mascot is a quick and easy process. To volunteer, interested students have to ask Hyde, and she will assign a date of a game that works with them. The day of the game, those students will meet in Hyde’s office a couple hours prior to the game to change into the Falcon costumes.
“I talked to Mrs. Hyde about [being mascots] the week of the [Homecoming] football game and she got the uniforms dry cleaned and such so they wouldn’t be all smelly for [my friend and I],” said a source, whose name will not be revealed to protect the identity of the mascot. “Then on Friday we changed in her office and came out of the office while the band was warming up and they all cheered and it was really fun. I directed the band in their warm-ups for a little bit and it was just a blast.”
Their work did not end there. The source and her partner later went on to increase spirit amongst the crowd as they cheered on their Saratoga Falcons.
“It was really fun except kids kept on jumping on me and pulling on my tail and I couldn’t tell them to stop,” the source said. “Also it was really funny when people tried to guess who I was and they were so sure [I] was someone else and I was just snickering underneath the falcon head.”
The source also admitted to improvising most of her routines during the game.
“The coolest part is being able to do whatever you want and just go crazy and dance and jump around and entertain people,” the source said.
Based off of her own experience, the source highly recommends that students volunteer to be Freddy or Franny for future sporting events to amp up spirit.
“It was fun to get people excited and pumped for the game while at the same time supporting our football team,” she said. “I felt like one of the characters at Disneyland because everyone was like, ‘Can I get a picture with you?’”