How the hype and energy of March Madness compare to the promotion, coverage, and student turnout of AHS sporting events
The excitement of March Madness does not just happen in college basketball. At AHS, students bring that same competitive energy to their own version of the tournament. This annual school event has become something many students look forward to, bringing together athletes, organizers, and spectators in the gym during lunch.
While the games themselves only last a month, a lot of work happens behind the scenes to make the event possible. Members of the leadership class spend weeks organizing the tournament, planning rules, coordinating with teams, and promoting the event to students.
Organizer Amber Hillman (12) explained that planning an event like March Madness requires collaboration between multiple people on campus and takes about a month to prepare. Even with the extensive planning, one of the biggest challenges is getting students to attend the games. “It’s during lunch, so people don’t want to spend their lunch in the gym,” Hillman said.
According to Hillman, to increase attendance, organizers promote the event through several different platforms like Instagram, email, and 5-Star to spread the word to students across campus.
The success of the event is often measured by the number of students who continue to show up and the energy in the crowd, depending on both student turnout and the energy in the gym. Hillman said, “[We measure success as] teams taking it seriously and putting in their own time outside of school.”
Tpumps Elite, which includes [left to right] Neer Patel (11), Amari Vance (11), Shaun Matthew (11), Hari Maley (11), Farhaan Ansari (11), and Zoravar Samra (11), will be advancing to the final (Photo Credit: Hudah Hassanin (12)).
Hari Maley (11), who also helped organize the event, said that the greatest challenge was making sure everything ran smoothly each day. “The stressful part is not really organizing. It’s having to execute everything when you have everything planned,” Maley said. “When the day actually happens, things that you don’t know could be occurring, which can cause problems.”
Despite the challenges, organizers say that strong student turnout makes the event exciting and worth the effort. Maley explained that when more students attend and participate, the atmosphere in the gym becomes more energetic and memorable.
For the players participating in the tournament, preparation also played a role in their performance. Varsity basketball player Dominic Castro (11) said his team spent several weeks getting ready for the event and thinking about their strategy. “We’ve been preparing for 3 weeks. We’ve been discussing our game plan and what we’re going to do to win,” said Castro.
Unlike traditional school sports teams, however, preparation is often less structured. Castro explained that teams usually rely on quick thinking during the games rather than formal practices. “We don’t really do practices, but we just go off the fly,” Castro said.
Da Real N Em, which includes [left to right] Hudah Hassanin (12), Darren Chea (12), Aarush Lodhi (12), Sean Bascos (12), Arjun Gupta (11), Rishi Revuri (11), will be advancing to the final (Photo Credit: Sahasra Yeluri (12)).
One of the highlights for Castro and his teammates was winning their first game of the tournament, which helped them avoid elimination early on. Castro said, “If we lost, then we would have gotten into a sudden death. So winning our first day was good.”
Even though the gym can get loud with cheering students, Castro said his team tries to stay focused on the game itself. “We just ignore them. We play our own game, and we get out with the dub [or win],” Castro said.
Despite challenges like promotion, planning, and recognition, events like March Madness continue to bring excitement to campus. The tournament not only gives students a chance to compete, but also gives them something fun to look forward to during the school day.
With organizers working behind the scenes and players competing on the court, March Madness has become a tradition that brings energy, competition, and school spirit to AHS every year. “Compared to previous years when we had more people in an event, it was definitely more hype,” said Maley.
Eagle Era 
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