RED RAIDER NATION
The Mechanicville Student Section made its presence known this winter, with the help of a few friends
MECHANICVILLE, N.Y. » Mechanicville High School is classified as a Class B school for their athletic programs, meaning that they are a relatively small school.
Regardless of their size, the Red Raiders have been able to organize one of the biggest and most consistent student sections across Section 2.
They’ve been able to do this because of the work of some extremely committed students and administrators, who were given the resources from an extremely generous community.
“At the beginning of basketball season, both Bella and Nick and a few other students asked for help getting other students involved and I said that’s not my job, that’s your job. Both of these two are student leaders, they are studentathletes and they both do very well academically,” said Mechanicville’s Junior/ Senior High School Principal, Mike Mitchell.
Bella Gaetani is a senior at the high school and a member of the volleyball team. Nick Clark is a junior and a member of the football team. Mitchell credits these two student leaders with organizing Red
Raider Nation and helping to revitalize their community.
As a Class B school, it could be difficult to compete with schools who have over a thousand students, which are easily able to fill gyms during games. Early in the season, the Red Raiders struggled to get many students to attend the basketball games.
“That happened a lot in the beginning of the season, especially girls games. Nick and I would go with a few friends. We would all show up to the game and there would be no one there. I would feel so sad for the players because the games were so good,” said Gaetani. “As the season progressed and people realized how good both teams were, the word started to spread. You’d see pictures of us all on Facebook and that people were going and it was cool to go to the basketball games.”
Across high school and college basketball, student sections gather in an attempt to impact the dynamic of the games, they change the energy in the gym and most notably, yell out funny things while the other team is shooting free throws.
“You walk into a neutral gym and see it painted with red and the walls are shaking with chants for Mechanicville, it just lets these girls know that we fully support them and are really proud of everything they’ve accomplished; both our boys and girls teams. They are fantastic student athletes and just incredible kids altogether,” Mitchell said after the girls team defeated Canton in their subregional game.
Clark gives a ton of credit to Mitchell and Superintendent Bruce Potter for their support.
“Before Mr. Potter and Mr. Mitchell came to Mechanicville, the message around the school and the community was sort of negative. Nobody really wanted to come and support Mechanicville. Mr. Potter and Mr. Mitchell came in and preached messages of success and focused on goals that are and continue to be attainable,” Clark said.
“They have been a major part of what Mechanicville has done.”
Gaetani talked about how the two were able to organize their peers, with the help of the administration.
“Once the hype started, getting the whole community together with Mitchell and Potter, we just decided that we were going to take this to the next level. We’d decided to have the student section every game, we’d have the flag and we would organize things to get everyone hyped up. We were hyped up because we’re just fun people,” she said.
“We got the word around by posting on our Instagram stories and Snapchat, saying GAME TONIGHT, when and where it was, and to bring the noise. We had a Twitter account we would post on every game day. We’re such a small community, so everyone knows what’s up, what the plan is and when the games are.”
An obstacle arises during the sectional tournament that isn’t friendly to maintaining large student sections. NYSPHSAA mandates a charge for entry into games held at the Cool Insuring Arena and Hudson Valley Community College, among other sites as well.
That’s where the Mechanicville community comes into the picture.
Michael Raucci, an alum of the district and General Manager at New Country Toyota in Clifton Park got things started with a donation to get Red Raider Nation to the sectional quarterfinals. Mitchell says that once the community caught on to the generosity taking place, donations starting pouring in.
“That was a tremendous surprise that the community gave back to all the students at Mechanicville. Mike Raucci, along with Mr. Potter and Mr. Mitchell, they have done a fantastic job of keeping the students involved and keeping the student body active in sports and always wanting the attendance of students to be very high, to always back each other and support each other, no matter what,” said Clark. “We couldn’t be more thankful and I can speak for everyone on that.”
That was only the beginning of the community’s support.
“I was watching on social media, basically parents just commenting that they wanted to help, they wanted to donate, saying I’ll throw in $20 and then it just went from there and we had thousands of dollars donated,” said Gaetani.
End Zone Sports Pub & Restaurant, in Mechanicville, also wanted to help.
“Every time that we went, they donated eight 32-cut pizzas. You’re talking 250260 slices of pizza, plus drinks. We had plenty of food. The kids that we on that trip were well fed before we left,” said Mitchell.
It’s one thing to pack the house in your own school’s gym, but it’s quite another to organize 150+ students to get signed permission slips to get on a bus and travel to away games at Shenendehowa High School, the Cool Insuring Arena, Hudson Valley Community College and more.
Just to put that in perspective, Mechanicville High School reported 331 students to the NYSPHSAA for athletic eligibility, meaning it was a true community effort.
“I’ve had parents from elementary schools saying their kid wanted to come.
It transpired at the high school all the way down to the elementary, which is crazy,” Mitchell said.
The players definitely appreciated all of the support they received this season.
“They boys would text us after every game and the girls would too and just say, ‘thank you so much you guys, your student section helps up play better.’ The energy in the gym is just different,” said Gaetani.
Student-athletes were not the only ones in Mechanicville impacted by the suspension of high school sports, due to the coronavirus. The girls basketball team was supposed to play in the New York State Regional Championship on Saturday March 14, which did not take place.
“We had a great run. I’m pretty sure that everyone was devastated, with the community being the backbone of our sports teams, along with the administration no matter the season being cut short or going all the way to the end, Mechanicville has shown a great amount of support to rebuild the community. I was very thankful to be a part of it and hopefully we get to go further next year,” said Clark.
Gaetani, a senior, is preparing to move onto the next chapter in her life, so next year won’t be with the Red Raiders for her. “To have it get cut short is sad, but I think what we did was special,” she said.
No matter what happens, the Red Raiders have a lot to be proud of.