First of all happy Independence Day everyone! No matter what you are up to on this July 4th, I hope you have a great day celebrating with family and friends! That being said what better way to kick off this holiday than talking some Raider Pride with the latest answer to the question “What does Raider Pride mean to you?” Today’s answer comes to us from Peter Santo a recent WHS graduate who holds the perspective of having been an athlete at WHS and also covered the various WHS teams over the years. Here’s what Peter had to say!
What Raider Pride Means to Me
By Peter Santo
Having just graduated from Wellesley High School last month after playing four years of varsity athletics and covering Raider sports for many years, I know about Raider Pride just as well as anyone.
Raider Pride is all about motivation. It gave me the motivation I needed to succeed both on and off the field. It made you feel like you were playing for much more than just yourself, you were playing for everyone, your teammates, coaches, and your entire school.
Raider Pride is something that gets thrown around a lot in this town, and to be honest it took me four years of competing at Wellesley High School and 18 years living in Wellesley to gain a full understanding of what it meant. I took until my final high school golf match this past October for it to hit me.
It was our last match of the season against our archrival the Needham Rockets, I certainly did not play my best that day, and neither did my teammates. We ended up losing to a Needham team we had beaten easily earlier that season, and it was a huge letdown for our squad.
No one ever wants to lose, especially to Needham, but that day it felt like it meant something more. Neither myself nor my fellow seniors would be playing college golf at the varsity level, so that last match against Needham would likely be the last time we ever competed for a team like this. Our team had been very successful the last four years, while we had a bit of a down year this season, we went undefeated my junior year. The sense of camaraderie, of playing for something more than just yourself, was something we would likely never experience again.Raider Pride is so much bigger than just one person, it was a sense of school spirit that brought everyone together as one. Next year I will attend Auburn University in Auburn, AL, and Raider Pride was one of the inspirations I used to help me choose where I would attend school next.
At Auburn we always talk about the Auburn Family, we say War Eagle to every family member we see, and it really brings us together. It’s the same thing with Raider Pride, in the end that’s what it comes down to, bringing people together, playing and competing for more than just your own personal gain. It may have taken me 18 years to understand it, but man am I glad I did.
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