Ethnography - Rhody Ruckus PDF

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Ethnography on the Rhody Ruckus club. Final and term project...

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University of Rhode Island

Rhody Ruckus Ethnography

Michael LeBeau APG 203 Professor Garcia Table of Contents Introduction __________________________________________ 2

Incentives to Join______________________________________ 3 My Experience________________________________________ 6 History______________________________________________ 7 Culture______________________________________________ 8 Impact on Campus_____________________________________10 Conclusion___________________________________________11

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Introduction I have always been an avid fan for athletics of all levels and sports, but nothing I have witnessed has been able to compete with the intensity of the University of Rhode Island basketball team. The largest factor that fills the games atmosphere with energy is the student body sports fan organization called Rhody Ruckus. The Rhody Ruckus is an exclusive student club with many benefits related to attending basketball games and the surrounding Kingston community. All students are eligible to join the Rhody Ruckus for a small fee, but there are only 1500 spots per season and teh spots fill up quickly. I attempted to sign up a week after the day sign ups began, all positions were already filled. The popularity and excustivity of the group is partly the reason why I am interested in the Rhody Ruckus as my topic. I have reached out to five of my friends who are members of the Rhody Ruckus including the current president and next year's president. My key informant is a friend of mine who has joined the ruckus this past year and calls himself a heavily active member. I have also attended numerous games, was invited to travel to away games with the Rhody Ruckus, and watch games online and on television. While experiencing the games and spending time with the Ruckus many of the members have mentioned that this season is the largest and most involved the Ruckus has ever been. This helped me to realize my main goal in conducting this ethnography. My main purpose is to find how the culture and demographics of the Rhody Ruckus changes from season to season and over extended periods of time. 2

Incentives to Join The first topic I would like to cover is why people join the Ruckus and the benefits of being a member. The core reason why people join the Rhody Ruckus is for guaranteed admission to all home games, but the Ruckus has much more to offer. This year in particular, home games were sold out and non members were not guaranteed a seat. The games that were predicted to sell out offered wristbands to Ruckus members first and then the general student body the morning of the game. For the more popular games, students would wait in front of the ticket booth for hours while Ruckus members only wait for a matter of minutes. Not only did becoming a member guarantee you a ticket, but also made it much easier to attend. Most members took advantage of the opportunity as many of the members were big fans who attended all the games. The biggest event of the year and a reason why all of my informants said they became members was guaranteed free admission to the University of Rhode Island versus Providence College rivalry game. College basketball games last on average two and a half hours, yet the price for tickets for the Providence game were upto $400. The price to join Rhody Ruckus is only $20 and a $1 processing fee. This perk of joining alone made the sign up fee well worth it. In fact, some of my informants joined the Ruckus purely for the Providence College game. Other important benefits of joining are “Meet the players” event in the beginning of the

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season and other exclusive pre-game events. Other smaller benefits such as free tshirt, raffle entries, membership card, and access to postseason tickets just sweeten the deal for potential members. During the interviews, another popular topic was the growth and expectations for the Ruckus next season. The expected size and popularity for next year is much bigger than previous years due to the team's success this past season. The president stated “The years that PC plays URI are years that more people are engaged”. Next year being a year the PC game will be played in Providence, the number of members will decrease overall, but for being an away game year, membership will be high. The recent news that coach Dan Hurley has signed with University of Connecticut and the loss of key recruits has shocked many and left the University of Rhode Island fans with fair amounts of uncertainty. Rhody Ruckus is expecting larger numbers next season regardless, but they do not know how the change of coaching staff and loss of players will change their membership. The Ruckus praised Dan Hurley and his leaving was a major upset for everyone. Overall, this year was the biggest success the team and the Ruckus have ever seen. Even with so much uncertainty, there is a positive lookout for next seasons membership. Although Rhody Ruckus is a paid student club, the time commitment required is relatively low. The most time demanding activity is going to the basketball games themselves. The games are two and a half to three hours long and they are not mandatory. A general member is not required to put in any number of hours or really

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any work at all. Even the president puts in only eight hours a week, which is a fairly large time commitment, but compared to other clubs, the Rhody Ruckus is not as demanding. During the season and especially for special events the president puts in extra hours. During the off season, there are currently no active events, activities, or perks. Meaning, even though students are Rhody Ruckus members for the entire academic year, members are only active for the four month period from November to March. The only active members are those on the executive board who help plan for the following season and maintain the clubs current status year round. The Ruckus organizes the annual Rhody Madness kickoff event and if the basketball team earns a spot in a tournament, the members host viewing parties for all students to attend. This is the only way general members can be involved other than traveling and attending away games. There are raffles and giveaways available to members to win prizes such as free bus rides to games, food, and merchandise. My key informant was lucky enough to win one of the raffles and won a trip an away game against University of Massachusetts along with a t-shirt, pizza, and a drink. Every winner of the raffle was allowed to bring one guest and my friend asked me to be his guest. I was not the biggest Rhody basketball fan before this event, but after traveling to the Umass game I became much more interested in URI basketball and the Ruckus. Going to this event sparked my interest and is the main reason why I chose Rhody Ruckus as my topic.

My Experience 5

I was not expecting to receive the offer to go to the URI Vs. Umass game and I did not know what was involved, but I decided to go because I thought seeing an away game would be interesting. The ten hour event was much better than what I expected. Everything from the food to the bus ride to the game was fun and memorable. When we got to the pickup station at 2:00 P.M. I found out that five of my friends also won or got invited onto this trip. I had no idea that some of my peers were apart of the Ruckus. The free pizza was and drink was great and when we filed onto the bus, everyone was filled with school spirit. There were a few key people who were in charge of the event and they lead chants and activities on the bus including the “RHODY RHODY RHODY” chant and our fight song. Everyone on the bus was friendly, happy to be there, and excited to “destroy” Umass. The atmosphere was great and got me excited for the rivalry game to come. They played movies during the bus ride and handed out all the leftover pizza and drinks. When we finally got the the stadium we found our seats and to no surprise found out that we were put in the nose bleeds of the away stadium. That did not damper the Rhody Ruckus spirit. We were taunted from the beginning yet from the second the Rams entered the court, our small pack of thirty people were on their feet and constantly cheering. It was nice to see a substantial group of fans in the distance wearing the familiar Keeney Blue. There was almost as many Rhody fans as Minuteman fans. Friends were messaging people in our section saying how they could hear us cheering on TV over the opposing fans. For the small group that we brought to the stadium we made our presence known. The

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game was much closer than it should have been and tensions were tight but we came out on top with a breathtaking ending. We celebrated the whole way home and we got to meet the players before they got on their bus. The whole experience was phenomenal and made me interested in joining next season.

History The Rhody Ruckus has not always been what the organization is today. Rhode Island basketball has always had a strong student presence, but they were never given a formal name or endorsed by the school. Finally, in 2013 the marketing committee of the university started a poll for the students to decide on a name for the new organization and replace the old nickname “The Mob”. Some of the options were Ram Nation, The Beach, Rhody Island, Keaney Blue Crew, Ramatics, and The Stampede, but Rhody Ruckus came out on top. Finally, the Organization was official and endorsed by the University their popularity and size began to grown. The Club really took off in 2016 when the first president of the Ruckus, Taylor Kholer, began to make it a more formal and organized club. Since Kholer entered the position the Ruckus has only been improving. Every year there are more perks offered to members and none have ever been removed. Membership exploded once again due to better advertisement and outreach by the first executive board. With increasing interest and more and more perks the price to become a member increased for the first time ever. Twitter is one of the Ruckus’s biggest tools when it comes to outreach. 7

Kholer’s first year the twitter page gained 516 followers and during the year of 2017 gained 516 followers. This past season alone accounts for 25% of all Ruckus twitter followers. Twitter is gaining importance for the Ruckus as they communicate everything from special events to the latest news. Anyone member or non member can follow and keep up with the latest news.

Culture Rhody Ruckus is more than just a group of students cheering for their Rams. Other than being a part of an organization what sets them apart from the student body nonmembers and other schools cheering sections is the culture and traditions. The atmosphere created by the enthusiasm of the Ruckus and the traditions they have is what makes Rams excited and gives viewers and the players a home environment. A well recognized part of the Ruckus’s culture is the use of props in the stands. They hand out blown up posters of people and popular icons to ruckus members and students seated nearby are able to use the props in trade for their student ID. The same posters and props are used at every game and the students compete to use them. The use of props causes a lot of excitement early on in the student section. Another prop used are the taunting posters on the baseline. Depending on the school the Rams are playing against, the Ruckus will come up with clever and witty posters that make fun of the other team. Most commonly the rival mascot is the target of the

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propaganda. Another part of the culture is having student leaders in front of the ruckus. These leaders are always enthusiastic and geared up at every game. The leader’s persona is iconic to the fans and the members of the Ruckus all know them by name. The leaders role in the ruckus is to keep the energy high and to start chants that the Ruckus will repeat. Certain situations always call for certain actions or chants and the leaders are always ready. The culture has minor changes from season to season and almost always have some new additions. The traditions set forth and the opportunity to start a new aspect of the culture for others to follow is a big reason why students return to the Ruckus year after year. The Ruckus brings together students of all types by recruiting through a shared common interest. At times, other student groups such as the cheerleaders work with the Ruckus during special events to create an even better atmosphere. The band and the Ruckus compliment each other by work together during chants and songs to be louder and have a greater impact. Lastly and possibly most importantly, the Ramettes are a huge part of the Ruckus. The Ramettes are the URI dance team that performs at games during halftimes, timeouts, and on the sidelines. Many Ramettes are members of the Ruckus and give a familiar face to many on the court. The sensation of being surrounded by familiar faces in a home environment make for a much better atmosphere. A small group of Ramettes travel with the Ruckus to every game. The ruckus paired with the cheerleaders, Ramettes, and the pep band make a whopping impact on anyone who enters the home of the Rams.

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Impact On Campus The presence of the Rhody Ruckus has much more influence on students than just on game day. Student life as a whole comes closer together due to the environment generated. Even those who are not a part of the organization are still welcomed and students do not feel like they are in unfamiliar territory while at games. To call oneself a member of a successful student run club creates a better stigma around student clubs in general. Students are more likely to join other clubs because they assume that they will feel accomplishment from being more involved. This idea comes from the positive feelings towards the clubs they are already a part of. Many members of the Ruckus are highly active on campus and take on leadership roles such as orientation leader, tour guide, greek life, and student senate. From a student body perspective, the overall moral on campus is much higher thanks to the Ruckus. School spirit is on the rise especially this past year due to the team and coaches accomplishments during a record breaking season. As a player, having a strong fanbase delivers much more confidence to the team as they are more excited to perform for their peers. The energy created in the arena also motivates players to perform better while the opposing team will feel intimidated. The impact the Rhody Ruckus makes comes in all forms on and off the University of Rhode Island campus.

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Conclusion All in all the Rhody Ruckus is a student run organization to admirer. For being established just five years ago, this club has come a long way since 2013. They have transformed the student body basketball fans into a single unit that rules the Ryan center with their superb enthusiasm and sportsmanship. This Rhody Ram basketball fan club has much to offer its loyal members as every year more and more perks are being added. The consistent growth of the group and the promise of a ticket to the Providence college every other year keeps students coming back for more each season. This past year has been the largest and best to date and all the numbers show that there is no sign of slowing down. After such an incredible season, student interest to attend games and to join the Ruckus is higher than ever. The players and Atlantic 10 conference coach of the year made this year very exciting, but they leaving of four starting seniors and hall of fame coach leaves the community with much uncertainty. Yet, this student organization continues to have a positive outlook for the next season. From what I have experienced first hand, this is a community that I look forward to being a part of next year as the enthusiasm and support shown even at a away games still blows my mind. The ever growing culture maintains the Ruckus’s reputation where it is at and the traditions generate a home like atmosphere. This outstanding fan base has such a great impact on the team, student body, and campus that it embodies. Bringing everything together, I set out to find how the culture and demographics 11

of the Rhody Ruckus changes from season to season and over extended periods of time. At the end of this term, I can happily say that I have achieved the main purpose of this ethnography. Through my methods of collecting data I have found the patterns of growth and the traditions that this special group of students hold. All of my experiences while obtaining data have been enjoyable, from interviewing members and the president to going on road trips to attending games. This report has revealed a great deal of information about the Rhody Ruckus and I now have a greater respect for the association as a whole. I am excited to see what is to come in the future for this organization and I hope to find myself in the student section next season.

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Work Cited Espn, Jeff Goodman Via. “Rhode Island's Dan Hurley to Be Hired as Head Coach at UConn.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 22 Mar. 2018, abcnews.go.com/Sports/rhode-islands-dan-hurley-hired-head-coachuconn/story?id=53929483.

Members of Rhody Ruckus. “Rhody Ruckus.” 14 Feb. 2018. “Rhody Ruckus.” Rhode Island, 4 May 2016, www.gorhody.com/fanzone/RhodyRuckus.

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