Rivalries between sports teams or clubs 

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By Noah Meyer

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

As the school year ramps up, sports teams and clubs find themselves battling with their rivals for victories and bragging rights. 

The competitive spirit within students is a driving force in many rivalries. With so many teams and clubs, Davis High has a wide range of different schools that they call rivals. Across the school, Jesuit High remains the biggest rival in many students’ eyes. In baseball, that’s especially the case. Junior Noah Tafolla, DHS baseball team pitcher, believes that DHS has the edge. 

“We are the better team, since we have a more developed team and our teamwork is on top,” Tafolla said. 

Having a rivalry has its benefits and disadvantages. Tafolla noticed that the opinion on a rival shifts from player to player. 

“(For) me personally, I would rather not have a rival because it usually doesn’t do any good for anyone. But rivalries (do) give extra motivation to win and it keeps (every game) interesting,” Tafolla said.  

It’s not just sports that have rivals. At DHS, even some clubs have rivalries with other schools. Senior Rena Abdusalam, president of the Mock Trial Club at DHS, described the club’s rivalries with Da Vinci High and River City’s Mock Trial clubs. 

“I would say that they’re our rivals, but it’s not like horribly serious. Our team definitely feels competitive with the two teams, considering this is DHS’s first year ever entering a mock trial competition,” Abdusalam said. 

Abdusalam recognized the drawbacks to a rivalry, but believes that a rivalry is necessary for competition.

“Competition is great for motivation and I’ve definitely seen that competitiveness drive our team. A little healthy competition doesn’t hurt,” Abdusalam said. 

However, some sports don’t have rivalries. For example, the tennis team doesn’t have a rival. Junior Justin Hickey, a member of the varsity tennis team, described the tennis team’s approach to their competitions. 

“The DHS tennis team doesn’t have a clear rival, we always play our best against whoever we play,” Hickey said. 

Hickey believes that not having a rivalry benefits the team, allowing for the team to concentrate on every game played instead of focusing on just one big game. 

“I think that really helps the team focus on the little matches more than the big ones, making sure that we’re always on our A game,” Hickey said.