Player Walk

Athletic Traditions

Team Walk to the Stadium

A couple of hours before kickoff, the Fighting Irish football players and coaches emerge from their Team Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and start their traditional walk to Notre Dame Stadium. At this point, these representatives of Our Lady’s University are still in their suits and ties, and their route is traditionally lined with Irish fans, giving the team some vocal encouragement combined with respect and restraint. This is one of the points where the team and the fans are especially close, literally and figuratively, reflecting that this tradition is largely about community.

Student Section

Student Section

Coach Charlie Weis has made it clear what role he thinks the student body plays on football Saturdays. As he put it at one pep rally, “We want you to be part of this game!” You can’t miss the section of the stadium where students remain standing during the game, generate extra decibels of noise, celebrate touchdowns with airborne pushups, and demonstrate a level of support that is indeed part of the game. Remember, these young men and women are not just fans; they are expressing solidarity with each other, with their classmates on the field, and with the school, its past and its future. In the stadiums of many universities, only a relatively small percentage of the student body is present. Not true here. These undergraduates, about a quarter of whom are legacy students, are sharing their sense of tradition and pride with everyone who’ll notice, especially the huge throngs of alumni who also attend the games.

Rain or shine, win or lose, the student body will still be there at the end of every Notre Dame home game to honor their classmates on the field. Staying through the Alma Mater no matter what the game’s result is considered a badge of honor. Of course…all bets are off if the student body ends up on the field, wildly celebrating.

Stadium Traditions

What are some of the traditions in the stands? Look for the “W” hand gesture, which accompanies the band’s playing of the 1812 Overture. The students chop the air with their arms in time with the menacing beat of the Darth Vader theme. They wave their keys to signal a “key play.” You’ll hear the “We are ND” cheer. You’ll see the Irish Guard do their Victory Clog after the Fighting Irish win. And whether or not Notre Dame wins, you’ll see the Fighting Irish team approach the student section to sing the Alma Mater together.

Cheerleaders and Leprechaun

Cheerleaders start their game day weekend with a 4 p.m. appearance at the Bookstore on Friday. Then it’s off to the pep rally, where they burst onto the scene with the band and the pom squad to the sound of the Notre Dame Victory March. On Game Day, four hours before kickoff, the group of six couples assembles in full uniform to go anywhere the echoes could use some waking up. Accompanied by the leprechaun, who is one of them, they visit Legends restaurant and other venues. Later, after the band’s step-off from the Main Building, they lead the parade of well-wishers across campus, sounding the alert: “Here come the Irish!”

Helmet Painting

helmet painting

The Fighting Irish team has a stalwart crew of student managers who tend players’ equipment and supplies. Perhaps their most storied function is the painting of the players’ gold helmets, a task that is now accomplished on Mondays in the open air of the stadium. Each helmet gets a basic gold colored coat of paint, followed by a coat that contains actual particles of gold.

Irish Guard

The Irish Guard is a group of ten tall, kilt-wearing soldiers of song who clear the way for the band to march and who enhance the celebratory music with an occasional Victory Clog. Look for them accompanying the band to its concert at Bond Hall, then getting the parade to the stadium under way. They play an important part in the pre-game ceremonies on the field to honor individuals or groups and then to raise the American Flag while 80,000 people sing the Star Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful. Irish Guard members must be at least 6’2’’ tall. The Irish Guard welcomed its first female member in 2000.

Sports Heritage Hall

Heritage Hall image

The area in and around Notre Dame Stadium and the Joyce Center serves as a living tribute to the ongoing vibrancy of student athletics at the University, with many reminders to “Play Like a Champion Today.” Besides the many statues and banners that evoke a proud past and present in the stadium’s corridors, don’t forget to visit the expansive collection of memorabilia, spanning many sports and many seasons, found in the Sports Heritage Hall located on the second floor of the Joyce Center.