At 3.75 inches tall, the $14 miniature Funko Pop of Lakers basketball legend LeBron James sits on girls basketball player junior Ayah Maaytah’s dresser. To this day, it’s one of her favorite gifts she has received from a teammate.
“He’s one of my favorite players on my favorite team, so it showed how much my teammate knew me,” Maaytah said.
As a part of her final sister gift exchange during her sophomore year girls basketball banquet, she obtained this prized possession from then-freshman Rihanna Jones.
“It helped us grow closer, and it made me more excited to give my gift to my person,” Maaytah said.
Maaytah is one of many girls on Lady Lancer sports teams who have established such connections through their traditions of gift-giving.
In fact, of the 13 sports comprising girls teams at Sunny Hills, only seven participate in such activities.
Although each sport has its own way of doing this, each typically assigns two teammates to prepare gifts for each other on game days; the way the players decide to do the exchange varies for each team.
Some teams do the tradition a little differently and have secret sister gifts — girls tennis, girls water polo, girls basketball — in which the athletes are unaware of who they’re receiving their gifts from.
The price for each sister gift depends on how the team sets it, but it usually varies from $5-15.
In girls volleyball, for example, junior opposite hitter Rielynn Brimmer said all three divisions — frosh/soph, junior varsity [JV] and varsity — in the program are assigned to each other. Players only bring each other gifts — usually consisting of snacks and one or two drinks — when they have away matches.
“We first get randomly assigned a sister by our coaches, and our sister must be in a different grade and team,” Brimmer said. “Every away game that we have, we always bring a small gift for them.”
Girls volleyball head coach Amanda Donaldson has seen its effectiveness over the years since she’s been guiding the program for nearly a decade.
“It’s a fun way to make sure people are really bonding in a different sense than just playing volleyball,” Donaldson said. “It’s cool to have a senior wave at someone in the quad, and it makes people feel really involved.”
A LONGSTANDING TRADITION
For girls basketball, this exchange among teammates started more than 20 years ago or possibly longer, coaches said.
In contrast, some sports have just recently begun to implement this practice.
For example, girls volleyball only started this bonding practice in 2015 when Donaldson was hired as the new head coach.
For girls volleyball, junior opposite hitter Rielynn Brimmer said all three divisions — frosh, JV and varsity — in the program are assigned to each other. They only bring each other gifts when they have away games.
“We first get randomly assigned a sister by our coaches and our sister must be in a different grade and team,” Brimmer said.” Every away game that we have we always bring a small gift for them.”
Girls cheer organizes sister gifts in its own way.
Cheer team president Aly Chow said cheerleaders are assigned one or more “littles” from the JV or frosh team and exchange gifts only on the day of a big football game: Battle of the Nations and homecoming.
“We do this so the littles have a support system and someone who can guide them, and the bigs have a mentoring opportunity,” Chow said. “The three levels do not work together often, so it is a way to get to know others on the team that the girls normally don’t practice with.”
EXPENSIVE HABITS
Given that teams such as girls volleyball and girls basketball buy around 10 gifts each season, it proves to be a pricey bonding activity.
Girls cheer sets their price limit at $5-10, Chow said. Cheer leadership usually recommends small items, such as a bag of chips and a drink.
“It is a good price limit because it does not pressure the girls to spend too much money,” she said.
Girls basketball player Sydney Kim said she thinks the price of snacks should be lower.
“I would like to lower the price and make it $5-10,” Kim said. “The cost of snacks and other things genuinely can’t satisfy a $5-10 budget because it’s usually multiple snacks in one gift.”
CROSSOVER SISTER GIFTS?
Though junior girls soccer player Elly Sweeney said she loves what sister gifts does for her team, she hopes that it could be run like girls volleyball.
“I wish that the selection was with other teams as well,” Sweeney said. “I know volleyball does that and mixes up a varsity player with a frosh because it would make the entire program closer.
Currently, sister gifts are only exchanged within their individual sports.
“I feel that it would be a fun idea to bond with the school athletes, but I feel like it’s more beneficial to exchange with your own team,” Sweeney said.
Kim also agrees with this.
“I feel like secret sister is usually seen as team bonding because the gifts you receive can say a lot about the person, so I wouldn’t personally want my team to collaborate with any other sports team,” she said. “It’s important to me that my team alone bonds because it affects our chemistry in games and practices in general.”
Donaldson said the sister gifts create unity across the entire program.
“Last night before the set started, our varsity and frosh/soph kids were in the stands, doing this crazy, loud cheer all together for the JV team,” said Donaldson, referencing the Tuesday, Aug. 27, volleyball game at Rosary High School. “It was like we got your back from whatever level, doesn’t matter if it’s frosh-soph, JV or varsity.”