Dan Ninham
Special to ICT
ANADARKO, Oklahoma — The game atmosphere was electric, with fans for both teams cheering loudly at the recent regional high school basketball championships in central Oklahoma.
The hometown Riverside Indian School boys and girls basketball teams were both in the tournament, with clear shots at state.
To add to the excitement was a cheering crowd of about 50 Riverside students in a corner bleacher. The team didn’t have cheerleaders on the court end lines, but the War Party, as the cheering section is known, stepped up.
Nearby bleachers vibrated and shook with energy, with every new development on the basketball court marked by the carefully coordinated cheers.
The cheering section — a longtime fixture at Riverside sports events — strengthens the bond between the team, the youth, and elders in the community, said Sandra Harris Tate, Sac and Fox and Ponca, the section’s leader for more than 20 years.
“I enjoy the spirit and energy the War Party brings to the teams and the atmosphere with their cheers and their positive support on behalf of the Native school environment,” Harris Tate told ICT. “The cheering section is representing Riverside as one family. Separately we may not be a force, but as one we create a strong force of support and family.”
Norman Tippeconnie, Comanche citizen, the head boys’ basketball coach for the past 23 years and Riverside’s athletic director, said the section brings together the students’ diverse communities.
“Native people love basketball,” Tippeconnie said. “Our War Party strengthens our bonds with Native communities due to their excitement for the game, our school, and pride in being Native.”
Staying focused
Harris Tate has been an education technician at Riverside Indian School in Anadarko for 24 years. A few years after being hired, she began working with the War Party cheering section for the Riverside Braves.
“Our school motto is, ‘Once a Brave, Always a Brave,’” Harris Tate said. “It doesn’t matter the age of our crowd, we are Braves.”
Riverside Indian School, the oldest federally operated Indian boarding school in the U.S., was originally formed in 1871 by Quaker missionaries as the Wichita-Caddo School. It moved in 1878 to its current location on the Washita River and was renamed the Riverside Indian School. Today, it serves as both a boarding school for nine months of the year and a day school for students from more than 75 different tribal nations.
This year has been a stellar year for Riverside basketball Both the Lady Braves and the Braves played in their respective brackets and won championships to advance to the next round, where they won again to advance to their state tournaments.
Both the boys and girls teams went to the Oklahoma State Basketball Tournament and made history by being the first to do so from Riverside.
They worked hard to prepare for the tournament with a season schedule that developed the strengths of the team to battle into the post season.
“The strengths of our team is a commitment to defense and playing to our players strengths on offense,” Tippeconnie said. “Our focus on our state tournament game is no different than any other game. We know that the will to prepare for every opponent is key to success.”
During the opening round of the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association State High School Girls Basketball Class 2A Tournament, the Lady Braves fell 64-55 on Thursday, March 12, to Howe.
Later in the day, the Riverside Braves were defeated in the boys tournament 44-42 in a close game with Fairland.
Native pride
The War Party brings its own contributions to the games, Tippeconnie and Harris Tate told ICT, when asked to describe in one word the atmosphere that the War Party creates.
“If I had to use one word to describe our War Party it would be pride,” Tippeconnie said. “Pride in our school, our basketball teams, and pride in being Native.”
“Family,” said Harris Tate. “Our student athletes come from all over Indian Country, and so their families may not be close by. But when the War Party is present then they have family in the stands that support them and give them courage to battle their enemy.”
The energy in the stands positively impacts the players on the court and their fans, she said.
“Our presence in the stands gives our players strength and makes them feel like they have someone on their side,” said Harris Tate. “Especially going into gyms where the Native population is small or nonexistent. The athletes draw courage from us and they look for us to come into the gym. When we walk in, they know it is going to be loud and they know we are behind them.”
To keep the energy high throughout the entire game may be challenging, but it doesn’t appear to be a problem with the War Party.
“The hardest part of keeping the energy high during the entire game is encouraging our teams when they need it most to play well or to play harder,” said Harris Tate. “Kids can feel easily frustrated, so we talk about how no one may be there for the teams so they need our spirit to be strong so they can be strong.”
Being a residential school has challenges for parental and family support, so the teams become an extended family and they take care of each other.
“When I began working at Riverside, my dad told me that the kids are from all over and some have folks that cannot come to the games,” said Harris Tate. “Some don’t have any family and some come from homes where Gramma and Grampa are raising them and they just cannot make it to all the games.”
“He said, ‘Remember how it felt to look in the stands and see us there, and that is what you have to create for the Riverside teams,’” she said. “I was originally the bus driver for the War Party and when we went to our first game, I cheered as loud as the kids. Pretty soon I was leading the cheers and adding the cheers I knew from going to games.”
She soon took on a bigger role.
“The staff who sponsored the War Party didn’t want to do it anymore and I just stepped into being the sponsor,” said Harris Tate. “I have done it every season since 2003.”
New members are always being recruited to the War Party, she said.
“We have younger participants and I teach them about showing respect and stepping up to meet the criteria of the War Party,” said Harris Tate. “We do not boo the refs, we do not show reaction to other student sections or crowds, and we do our best to be the best on behalf of our teams and our school.”
‘Warriors going into battle’
For big games like those at the state tournament, special preparation is needed for the cheering section.
“Preparation for the state tournament games is reminding the kids that we are one,” said Harris Tate. “They need us to help them stay spiritually and emotionally strong. If we do not show up with the energy, then we are letting them down.”
She continued, “When one wins, we as a school, all win. When the teams win, they run to the War Party and make sure their trophy and recognition is visible in any pictures taken by others. We work hard cheering and I have watched the intensity of the War Party turn a game around simply by cheering as loud as they possibly can.”
“In some tournaments, when we walk in early, the cheerleaders from the ongoing game will ask us to help them cheer to victory. Usually we oblige them with our loudness and our spirit,” she said.
The school pride connects with the intertribal pride of the crowd and players and coaches on the court.
“I cried happy tears when they both earned their ticket to the tournament because I know what it took for them to get there,” Harris Tate said. “Few people know that those kids are prayed over and they smudge themselves before a game and our prayer is always protection, safety, having a strong mind, and having a strong spirit.
“They are warriors going into battle and that’s what our people always did before battle and that’s what our kids do,” she said. “We are Native and we come from many home fires from many nations. That’s the best thing about Riverside is they are supportive of everyone’s culture and their teachings.”