Many Chelsea High School sports teams bond by going to team dinners, watching other games together, and just spending quality time with one another. The boys’ cross-country state team, however, has taken their relationship to another level by deciding to shave each other’s hair. Many would say this is an unusual tradition, but members think otherwise.
“It goes back a long time,” Miles Dell (‘26) said. “Every year we make a state cut, [so that] we keep the streak alive every year. We shave arrows on our head for the state team…like a good luck charm.”
This yearly tradition is unique to boys’ cross-country team; most other teams aren’t willing to go quite as far as to make this (semi) permanent change. The community in cross-country, however, is tight enough so the teammates will support one another in this unconventional form of team bonding.
“It was a really big bonding experience because I don’t know how often you get to shave someone else’s head,” Dell said.
The cross-country team did not just shave their heads like one might think. Instead, they replicated the arrow from Avatar: The Last Airbender to make themselves look like Aang, the show’s protagonist.
“We made a cut out of an arrow out of paper, laminated it, and had one person hold it on someone’s head while someone else etched it in,” Dell said.
Shaving one’s head is a drastic change to their looks, so some were more willing to do it than others. Once the whole team was in on it, the shift didn’t seem as bad as they had originally thought.
“I was willing to do it,” Owen Thorburn (‘27) said. “We had to convince other people but we didn’t peer pressure anybody.”
Even though some were hesitant, everyone was persuaded to partake in the team tradition. Connecting the team through hardship and later in the mockery of their hair.
“We used the leaf blower for the hair,” Dell said. “Every time someone got their hair buzzed, we put them out in the yard and sprayed them with it.”
With the help of all the team members, the haircutting was short and sweet, giving the team plenty of time to eat.
“Owen’s mom made spaghetti,” Dell said. “[But] there was a lot of hair in it because we were outside. 10/10 spaghetti.”
Many laughs were had that day and unique hairstyles were introduced to the world that coming morning. But despite the drastic change, it brought the team together and ready to compete at the states.
“Memories last forever, hair is temporary,” Dell said.
