Formidable: The Rivalry Between Chelsea and Dexter

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Buck Allen (‘26) defending the house name on the court against school rival, Dexter.

The student section roars, onlookers cheer, and excitement fills the air. The rivalry between Chelsea and Dexter has everyone on the edge of their seats. But why is this game more special than the others? 

In sports, there is always competition and a drive to win, but there are some matches that simply have more emotion behind them. Every athlete in Chelsea schools knows that going up against Dexter is a game worth putting everything into. 

“I feel like we definitely are more competitive and I feel like we are more supportive, like our bench will be a lot louder,” freshman Leah Helquist said.

Competition and support are part of every game, but games against Dexter only increase the team’s spirit and drive to win. This tension only increases the competition throughout the season, as the teams know everyone is getting better.

“We play all of our league teams twice,” Helquist said. “I feel like towards the end, more teams have played with each other a lot and been practicing the entire season. Because both teams have been practicing and we’re probably better than we were the first time we played, I feel like that makes a difference.”

The teams settle in later in the season and get ready to face their rivals again. Due to Dexter being a well-known rival, the teams know what to expect when playing them, knowing how their opponents work and how to use that to their advantage.

“It’s a different mindset, you go out there and play harder against Dexter because we know who we’re playing against,” freshman Jacob Corcoran added.

Knowing who the opponent is and how they perform has a large impact on the Chelsea athletes. They change their mindsets and push themselves in practice in order to perform according to who they are going to be playing. 

“If we know that we’re going to be practicing swimming against someone that we know we want to beat, obviously we’re going to be swimming harder because we need to improve faster in order to beat them,” senior Gavin Ijere said.

The rivalry against Dexter is one of many motives for the athletes to push harder as it gives them a reason to want to be their best and play their best.

“I think rivalries in Chelsea are really important because we have a good athletic program,” Ijere said. “It gives us a reason to have a good athletic program. We want to be able to beat Dexter and that’s why we train so hard. If Dexter wasn’t there, why would we train so hard?”