Originally published in print in November 2025. View print issues here.

Bruins United — a new program at Branham that requires every team to both attend another sport’s game and participate in a community service project together — is reshaping what it means to be a student-athlete.

The program was first proposed by athletic director Kaleb Lane, who noticed a lackdearth of support between teams and wanted to encourage student-athletes to show up for one another beyond their own sports.

“For example, flag football or field hockey might not be as big of an allure as a football game, but guess what? They’re still Branham Bruins, and they’re still out there playing, and they need to have support too,” Lane said. “They need to know that all the athletes got their back.”

Senior Lark Brownie, a field hockey player whose sport is often underattended, attests to Lane’s reasoning behind the program.

“I think that it really builds us up and allows us to perform even better,” Brownie said. “It’s really important that all sports get equal recognition, especially in a community that prides itself so much on sports.”

Both the girls and boys water polo teams chose to participate in the Bruins United program by attending a field hockey game at the start of the season. Brownie appreciated having support at her games beyond the usual crowd.

“It felt great,” Brownie said. “They even made posters and were doing chants for us, and I just thought it was really sweet. It makes our sport feel more welcome in the sporting community at Branham.”

Cross country runner Aaron Tsai, who went to a flag football game with his team in compliance with the new program, thinks the experience was beneficial to both the team they were supporting and his own.

“It’s cool to cheer on other people,” Tsai said. “Even simple conversation like ‘good job’ and ‘good luck’ makes it feel like there’s some sort of connection. As long as conversation is happening between teams, it’s going to evolve into something more.”

For senior cheerleader Reese Hickey, who attended a volleyball game for the first time as part of Bruins United, watching other teams perform changed her perspective on her fellow athletes.

“It’s interesting to see people in their element doing what they love and what they’re good at,” Hickey said. “This is what they’ve been doing when they say ‘Oh, I can’t hang out’ or ‘Sorry I have practice.’ You see what they’ve been working for, and it’s really impressive. It shows their character and their integrity.”

For Brownie, the program shifted her perspective in a different way, noting that teamwork can extend beyond individual sports and connect all the teams.

“We’re all working together as one big team,” Brownie said. “We’re all supporting each other.”

In addition to requiring teams to attend other sports’ games, Lane implemented community outreach to encourage teams to support the Campbell community as well as the Branham community.

“I wanted to give teams full reign to do any community outreach project they thought was important,” Lane said.

Tsai helped lead a community outreach project with his team for middle schoolers as part of Bruins United, which included teaching the younger athletes more comprehensive training and giving them basic knowledge on sleep, recovery, diet and nutrition.

“By showing that we care as a cross country team, they’re more likely to participate in high school,” Tsai said. “If they’re between school zones, they’re more likely to choose our school because we’ve already reached out and welcomed them onto the team.”

Although the reaction to the new program has been largely positive, students like Hickey have concerns with the additional time commitment beyond daily practices.

“Any second that I’m not doing something that I’m required to do, I’m doing my homework.” Hickey said. “The thing with balancing all this is you have to put in 100% where you are at that moment.”

Brownie acknowledges the struggle to balance school and sports but also recognizes the importance of showing up for other teams.

“You receive the support you give out,” Brownie said. “It’s really easy to just show up for even 10 or 15 minutes. A little bit of support is better than none.”

Every year a meeting is held for athletic directors, at which the same question is always discussed: What is the purpose of athletics?

“Every year you get different answers,” Lane said. “But at the end of the day, [the purpose] is to have a sense of belonging in your high school. When you show up as a team for another team, you feel like ‘Oh, I’m supposed to be here. I might not know everybody on the field or anybody for that matter, but I’m still here to support them because they’re Branham Bruins, and so am I.’”

Photo by Alyx Yoon/Bear Witness