Well before the first pass, set, and hit drill of the new �ֲ���ý volleyball season, this year’s Bobcat team gathered for some teamwork, off the court. 

Before each season, varsity teams spend an hour or so for team and individual marketing photos, known as “sportraits.” And they get to have some fun along the way, brainstorming poses and cheering on one another.

Theophil Syslo/�ֲ���ý College

For new �ֲ���ý players, the photo sessions are a low-stress way to get to know teammates. 

“It was a super-fun and lighthearted bonding experience,” said Eden Lorin ‘27 of Piedmont, Calif. “It was a good way to get to know everyone. It really made me feel like I was officially part of the team.”

This year, the fun got a boost from McKenzie Barker, a little girl from nearby Norway, Maine, who is . “Having ’Kenzie join us for sportraits this year was so much fun,” said Amanda Power ‘26 of Scottsdale, Ariz. “She brings such a sassy vibe to the team.” 

As players talk about the photo sessions, they also take the long view, knowing that long after their last match in Alumni Gym, the photos will deliver happy and vivid memories of times at �ֲ���ý.

“It’s really cool that I get to look back on my experience as a college athlete because the time goes by so quickly,” says Kate Hansen ’25 of Menlo Park, Calif.

Bobcats like to bring props to the photo shoots, including flags of their home states and nations, provided by head coach Emily Hayes and her staff.

“Being surprised with our state flags was really great,” said Alma Mackic ‘24 of Lake Forest, Ill. “I loved the idea of showcasing the fact that even though many of us are from different places, with different experiences, and different backgrounds, we are all united through �ֲ���ý volleyball.” 

Nine states, including Barker’s Maine, and the nation of Canada are represented on this year’s volleyball team. Emma Patard ’26 is from Outremont, Quebec. “Being able to represent my flag in the U.S. is really meaningful,” she said.

“We get to see where everyone is from,” says Hansen. “At home, I’m surrounded by people who come from the same community. But on our team so many different people from different backgrounds makes for an interesting dynamic.”

Additional reporting by Hannah Kothari ’26

“We have to remember that sport is a performance, and athletes are performers,” says Amy Bass ’92.

An academic expert in the fascinating intersection of sport, culture, and society, Bass shared three insights about what’s going on when sports teams — in this case, Bobcat teams — gather for their pre-season photo shoots and pose in creative, fun, and powerful ways, as seen in these examples.

What separates athletes from other performers — say, an improv group — are the many rules of their sport, which means that athletes can’t readily express themselves as individuals within the context of their sport, even when it comes to what they wear.

“We’re seeing right now, how FIFA during the World Cup,” says Bass, a and frequent opinion contributor to CNN and other media outlets.

For athletes, rule-free zones are few. There’s the NFL end zone, where, for example, star receiver Justin Jefferson does his Griddy dance after a touchdown — or during a freewheeling �ֲ���ý sportrait session when a couple of �ֲ���ý volleyball players do their own version of the dance (see below).

Bass’ second point is about how sport creates meaning. “Spectators use sport to make meaning out of our lives. But it’s harder for athletes to make meaning out of their lives through sport — again because of those rules and prescriptions.”

A sportrait session is where an athlete can make a statement about themselves. Some statements are silly, some witty, and some “pretty powerful,” says Bass, pointing to a pose by a �ֲ���ý swimmer last year, along with the athlete saying that her broad and muscular swimmers’ shoulders are her “badge of honor.”

“That’s a pretty significant statement,” says Bass. “That’s women taking up space in terms of the kind of bodies that they feel that they need and want to have — and that they can have — to succeed at what they do.”

And third, as much as these photo sessions offer fun moments for self-expression, Bobcats mostly talk about the way the sessions build team unity at the start of a season.

During the sessions, the team is pretty much in control of things, with encouragement and guidance from the photographer, Brewster Burns. Coaches aren’t a big part of the show.

“Team building has to include some kind of player autonomy,” says Bass. “A coach can’t tell the players how to be together.” She recalls a moment , which chronicles the 2015 championship season of the fabulously multicultural Lewiston High School boys’ soccer team. “One night they created a team song. And then they tell their coach what it is, and what his part of it is.”

In the past — before digital replaced film, allowing for expansive photo sessions — team building moments might occur elsewhere, maybe during “a pasta dinner the night before the big game,” Bass says. Now, team photo day “is another version of the pasta dinner the night before.”

Here are our 13 favorites from the fall 2022 season:

Gather ‘Round

For their sportrait, these four first-year football players gathered around a spinning football.

“We’ve seen NFL players individually spin the ball and ‘warm’ their hands over it, like a campfire, so we decided to sit by our campfire and warm our hands,” explains quarterback Sergio Beltran (right) of East Palo Alto, Calif.

The four teammates “had become very close friends pretty quickly, so we decided to take a sportrait together.”

Mallow Yellow

This squishmallow, Dinosaur Hal, resides in the volleyball team’s locker room. “He’s like a team squishmallow,” says Ellie Asada ’26 of Honolulu, Hawaii, who credits teammate Madison Broda ’23 of Portland, Maine, with the idea. “She loves squishmallows.”

Angel Among Us

This image is inspired by the iconic logo of the Charlie’s Angels franchise.

Rowing coxswain Rowan Cody ‘25 of Madison, Wis. stands in the center, “guarded” by her fellow rowers.

“As the coxswain, she’s kind of the brain of the boat so that’s the significance behind her position in the photo,” explains Sakakeeny-Smith on behalf of the group.

Eight Is Enough

When we first glanced at this photograph, we figured it was a stop-motion strobe image, the kind , showing the swing of golfer Alex Voight Shelley ‘24 of State College, Pa.

In fact, the image shows the golf swings, at various points, of all eight �ֲ���ý women’s golfers. “We wanted to show the sequence of a golf swing in one of our photos,” explains Voight Shelly on behalf of her fellow juniors (Acton and Shind) and senior (Battye).

“We loved this photo because it shows that while golf is mainly thought of as an individual sport, having a supportive team environment is what really pushes us to be better athletes.“

Voight Shelley is joined by Grace Acton ’24 of Harvard, Mass., Nerea Barranco ‘25 of Zarautz, Spain, Sylvia Battye ‘23 of Auburn, Ala., Ruby Haylock ‘26 of Hartford, Maine, Maddy Kwei ‘25 of Pasadena, Calif., Kendall Reed ‘26 of Newtown, Conn., and Mira Shind ‘24 of Wellesley, Mass.

‘I find your lack of Bobcat Pride…’

This amalgam of various Darth Vader strangle moments is courtesy of football offensive linemen Quinn Woods ’23 (left) of Minot, Maine, and Cole De Magistris ‘24 of Emerson, N.J.

De Magistris (“I’m a big Star Wars fan”) came up with the idea, using props from when he was a kid. “All I needed was a teammate to complete the picture and Quinn was the perfect guy for the role.

Says Woods, “It’s an instant classic that we can look back on forever.”

De Magistris even came up with his own tag line for the photo: “I find your lack of Bobcat Pride…disturbing.”

Strong Focus

Football wide receiver Maverick Selementi ‘26 of Montclair, N.J., uses his hands to frame and emphasize the ski mask he’s wearing, which Selementi refers to as a “shiesty,” after the Memphis rapper who popularized the accessory.

It’s a Keeper

That’s soccer goalkeeper Bruce David ’25 of Pittsburgh in front, with additional arms support from fellow keepers Erik Janzon ’25 of Ridgefield, Conn., and Nico Hessel ’26 of Brattleboro, Vt.

“As a keeper, you often have times where you’re in top form and you feel like the opposition has no chance at putting a shot past you — when it seems like you have six arms to an opposition striker,” says Janzon. “We wanted to channel this feeling.”

Like a kicker for an American football team, soccer keepers don’t have a lot of company at their position, so “good camaraderie is extremely important,” Janzon adds.

“We play the most competitive and isolated position in the sport, and we’re the only players who truly understand the challenges that come with playing our position.” Good camaraderie “helps us continue to push one another to get better during training.”

Out to the Curb

Senior year for a college athlete is bittersweet. For most, the end of a competitive career is near. And that’s how these four senior soccer players ended up with their bit.

“We were sort of reflecting on how this season was the start of the end,” said McKersie. “Soon we’d be ‘washed-up’ former college athletes!”

‘Where We Come From’

Football defensive back Mohamed Coulibaly ‘23 and receiver Mohamed Diawara ‘23, cousins from Philadelphia, Pa., hold the national flag of Mali.

“The flag means a lot,” says Coulibaly. “Both of my parents and both of Mohamed’s parents are from Mali. It represents where we come from. It’s important to remember the culture and the things we embody that come from our parents. It’s in our DNA.”

Sister Act

Sisters and field hockey players who hail from Auburn, Maine, Anna Cote ’25 and Paige Cote ’23 offer their takes on poses that show the strength of siblings.

In the photo at left, Anna is in foreground, and Paige’s arms are seen, flexed. In the right photo, Anna is hugging Paige.

Words to Row By

Rowers Genesis Bussey ‘24 (left) of Bronx, N.Y., and Ollie Young ‘23 of Burlington, Vt., cross arms as they display team bracelets with the words “Bright” and “Grit.”

Each year, as the women’s rowing team nears NCAA Championship season, the squad’s seniors choose a word to rally around, explains Young. “Bright” and “Grit” are the words from 2021 and 2022.

“Each senior speaks to what that word means to them, and everyone carries that with them as we move forward, no matter where we go,” says Young. “Everyone on the team gets a bracelet, and a teammate ties it for you. It’s a tradition that connects the team throughout the years — even after each class graduates.”

Two Griddy

“We just thought it would be a funny picture to have,” says volleyball player Kate Hansen ‘25 (right) of Menlo Park, Calif., doing the Griddy dance with teammate Alyssa Lowther ‘25 of Wyckoff, N.J.

Here’s a quick tutorial from the Griddy master himself, NFL star receiver Justin Jefferson.

Maine Theme

When the summer camp where Gabe Coffey ‘23 of Bangor, Maine, worked last summer bought new flags, he offered to take this well-worn Maine state flag.

“I had no real idea of what I’d do with it,” he said, until the cross country team prepared for its team photos. “I realized I’m the only Mainer on the men’s team, and thought it apropos to make it known.”

High school and college athletes know the routine for photo day. Stand right here. Smile if you want. Click. Next.

But at �ֲ���ý, that’s only half the game. After a team has their official portraits done, the fun begins. It’s now time for Bobcats to celebrate self and team by striking a pose — a “sportrait” — of their own.

Over the last few years, pre-season sportrait sessions at �ֲ���ý have become a favorite team-building tradition. “The key to the whole thing is enthusiasm,” says photographer Brewster Burns, who is a Maine high school teacher by day. “If I equal their enthusiasm — which isn’t that hard to do — then my enthusiasm, their enthusiasm, and everybody else’s in the room frees everybody to take chances and have a good time.”

The word “enthusiasm” comes from a Greek word that means being possessed by a god. In this case, the athletes are possessed by their inner Bobcat.

For her final �ֲ���ý sportrait, Amanda Kaufmann ’22 of Somers, Conn., was looking for a pose that captured a hunger for greatness. And that’s what she got. “My favorite of four years,” she says.

Mohamed Diawara ’23 of Philadelphia wanted a pose that would display the photo on a pendant he wears to honor a friend who died. Burns “made sure it worked,” Diawara says.

The first-year �ֲ���ý baseball players wanted to recreate an 1879 team photo. “He was as excited as we were, and helped us make our replica as accurate as possible.”

“When people get together and they’re all enthusiastic and they’re all having a good time, then they free up, take more chances,” says Burns. “Creativity demands taking chances, both on my part and their part. It’s a partnership.”

Here are 16 of our favorites, featuring quotes from the Bobcats gathered by �ֲ���ý Communications intern Aaliyah Moore ’24 of Phoenix:

‘Why would I want to hide my strength?’ 

Competitive swimmers, both male and female, are known for developing broad shoulders and skinny hips, explains Natalie Young ‘24 of Windham, N.H. For a woman, that means having a body type “that more closely resembles the ‘ideal’ male body type.”

Young’s specialty is the butterfly, which “requires a great deal of upper-body strength, more than other swimming events.” For Young, broad shoulders “symbolize the countless hours of dedicated work that I have poured into this sport over the years. “Truth is, I have no shame in my broad ‘swimmer shoulders.‘ I view the female swimmer body type as my ideal body type. It’s literally something that I wear as a badge of honor. Why would I want to hide my strength?” 

Young says her creative sportrait, “reflects the pride that I feel being a swimmer and conveys the confidence that it has given me in my body type.” The pose has another purpose, she says: a bit of “intimidation for the competition.”

Why we do what we do

After the wipeout of the 2020–21 sports season, �ֲ���ý athletes, especially seniors, returned to the field, court, pitch, and slopes in high gear.  

For her creative sportrait, Daphne James ‘22 of Sausalito, Calif., wanted to showcase the excitement and energy that marked the reopening of �ֲ���ý sports but also “something fun and goofy, especially because skiing can be serious and intense. So this pose came to mind. It says, ‘I’m just here to have a good time and happy to be a Bobcat!’” 

The pose is also a “good reminder of why we do our sports and what got us here: love of our sport and for being a member of a team.”

Trashion Show

Yeah, it happens: throwing up after a really tough workout. As one scholarly paper notes, “Nausea and vomiting are relatively frequent symptoms in athletes.” As Colby Stakun-Pickering ’23 of Wellesley, Mass., puts it, “harder and harder workouts occasionally mean a trip to the trash can.”

During the sportrait session for the indoor track team, Stakun-Pickering was at a loss for his creative pose. Then he spied a trash can, and decided to show a different side of being a track athlete. What the viewer sees, he explains, “is what my teammates and Coach might see as they rally me back to the track for more sprints.”

Home cookin’

Like other Bobcats, senior soccer players Ciaran Bardong of Manhasset, N.Y., Luke Protti of Amherst, Mass., and Charlie Cronin of South Portland, Maine, wanted to cook up something special for their final �ֲ���ý sportrait.

“One of us suggested fake mustaches, and we instinctively knew that chefs hats and cooking utensils were essential additions,” says Cronin. “One could say we’re Michelin starred.”

Yer a wizard, Mary!

On a scale of 1 to 10, we’re 9 3/4 obsessed with this Harry Potter look served up by women’s cross country runner Mary Richardson ’22 of Blue Hill, Maine. “I grew up reading Harry Potter and felt inspired to pay homage for my senior year sportrait,” she explains.

Richardson says her childhood was “really crafty” (as in creative, not wizardly). “My mom always made Halloween costumes for me and my sister, so we’ve always had capes and crazy hats laying around.” Packing for her return to �ֲ���ý last August, Richardson spied a Gryffindor scarf peeking out from a bin in her closet. Paired with her glasses, the look was complete.

1879 to 2022

What looks like a staid pose by the first-year members of the baseball team is actually a brilliant homage to a 143-year-old team picture taken at the dawn of �ֲ���ý intercollegiate athletics.

“The old picture was found by a senior, Antonio Jareno, who suggested that the first years recreate it,” explains Josh Sherman ‘25 of Lexington, Mass. The historic photo depicts the baseball team in only its seventh year of existence, 1879.

The team back then didn’t have an official coach — it wouldn’t until 1906. Instead, a student team manager helped run the club. Holding the bowler hat at back left is the student manager, Harry Merrill, Class of 1880.  

Merrill’s appearance in the 1879 photo suited the �ֲ���ý first years because it allowed them to include Sherman, the student manager of the modern-day team.  

Adding to the fun of sportraits, says Sherman and others, is that Burns supports their creativity. 

“The photographer was very excited by our desire to recreate the photo as exact as possible, so he helped us adjust our positioning and told us each where to direct our eyes so that our replica could be as accurate as we could make it.”

‘Part of my heart’

For his first �ֲ���ý sportrait two years ago, Mohamed Diawara ’23 of Philadelphia posed with his arms spread wide, one hand holding a football. “I was celebrating my arrival at �ֲ���ý,” he says.

Two years later, Diawara again chose to hold a football. But this time, he put his hands together and put his head down, so the viewer sees another face: the one pictured on the chain he’s wearing, that of his close friend and football teammate in high school who died from gun violence in 2017.

“I wear the necklace because I always want to keep his love for the game and legacy alive. It’s my way of knowing that I’m carrying him with me,” he says.

“I’m looking away, because it’s about his face, not mine. He’s part of my heart now.”

Queen for a day

This homage to the iconic cover of the album Queen II was created by four members of the men’s rowing team.

At top in the photo is Thomas Monahan of Louisville, Colo., and below, from left, are Xavier Fallone of Niskayuna, N.Y., William Corcoran of Chevy Chase, Md., and Jasper Tucker of New Canaan, Conn.

Respectively, they’re assuming the poses of Brian May, John Deacon, Freddie Mercury, and Roger Taylor from the 1974 album cover.

Tucker came up with the idea on the spot, explains Monahan. “The long black Under Armor tops we wear for our winter rows were perfect for the pose.”

Beyond the gear, “it’s the spontaneity that makes it so great,” he says. “The hundreds of hours we train together produce an incredibly close-knit group of guys. This closeness and the comfort we have with each other is what make �ֲ���ý men’s rowing so special and these moments so frequent.”

Fun fact: A photo of Marlene Dietrich taken during filming of the 1932 movie Shanghai Express was the inspiration for Queen’s cover photo, taken by Mick Rock.

All aboard

The juniors on the softball team were on the lookout for a pose for their creative sportrait, and landed on the idea of rowing and looking ahead together. 

From left, Kama Boswell of Bellevue, Wash., Lindsey Kim of Palo Alto, Calif., Amanda Taylor of Fair Lawn, N.J., Katherine Merisotis of Coventry, Conn., and, keeping an eye out, Cassidy Musco of Walpole, Mass. 

Winter rules

This is a go-to pose for lacrosse player Shelby Howard ‘23 of Ashland, Mass. “I did this pose my freshman year, and will most likely do it once more as I am a rising senior.”

An alpine stance and lacrosse sticks as ski poles pokes fun at Maine’s long winter. “Lacrosse is a spring sport, but in Maine, it’s also a winter sport since we start playing in February.” And winter can be hard to escape. “We also went to Chicago for our pre-season trip this past year, where we played outdoors in snowy conditions, so I think this photo foreshadowed that.” 

Band of Bobcats

In explaining the choice to pay homage to the iconic photo of the flag raising on Iwo Jima, Liam Evans ’22 of Sauquoit, N.Y., respects the limits of a war metaphor.

“It’s not meant to glorify war, or equate track to the toll war takes,” says Evans. Instead, he and his fellow seniors wanted to “convey the demanding nature of track and field, the perseverance one must adopt to succeed, and the idea of individual achievement and collective triumph.” From left, Garrett Evans (Liam’s brother), Liam, Paul Speliakos, and co-captain Charlie Hansen. 

“It’s about having a soldier’s mentality to succeed in track and field. Mental fortitude is just as important as physical preparation.”

Seeing and running

A simple relay baton became a eye-opening prop for track sprinter and jumper Jeandodie Tangishaka ’25 of Goodyear, Ariz.

While the baton is a simple piece of sports equipment, it carries huge importance.”The handover is the most important part of any sprint relay,” explains Tangishaka. “The quality of the baton exchange between any two runners can determine success or failure.” You can have the four fastest runners in a relay and still do poorly. “Ideally, both runners should meet at full speed and avoid slowing down” during handoff.

Tangishak says that he peered through the baton “to emphasize the importance of seeing and running as one with the baton in order to make the perfect exchange.”

Hunger for greatness

“I’ve always admired female athletes who pose so confidently and I wanted to emulate that,” explains Amanda Kaufman ‘22 of Somers, Conn.

She references a , the world record holder in the 400 meters hurdles and a 2020 Olympic . “She’s down in the blocks, does a hair flip to bring her face to the camera, and then winks. That’s awesome.”

“We train hard, September to May. It’s a grind. But the environment at practice every day, being surrounded by other hard working women, really makes the grind worth it. We make each other better and we are better together!”

“I think the facial expression the photographer captured was a hunger for greatness and it is a reflection of the grittiness that we see at practice every day.”

Fertile imaginations

Cross country runners seem rarely at a loss for inside jokes, which is how good friends and roommates Eli Boesch Dining ’23 (left) of Concord, N.H., and Clem Taylor-Roth ’23 of Juneau, Alaska, came up with their grass-watering vignette.

“We think of Eli as our plant guy. His hat says ‘John Deere Golf,'” explains Taylor-Roth. “He works in the college greenhouse and is an environmental studies major.”

“And Clem always has this signature water bottle, a massive hydroflask,” says Boesch Dining.

Last fall’s photo sessions were held outdoors at the Ladd Library Arcade, so Boesch Dining grabbed a bunch of nearby grass (“sustainably harvested,” notes Taylor-Roth). His friend held it while Boesch Dining did the watering.

Tend the garden, and see the results, they say. “Put in the work, sleep well, hydrate, eat healthy, and put up mileage: Your speed and success as a runner will grow.” says Boesch Dining.

Poised pose

The juniors on last year’s women’s basketball team chose this fierce and determined pose for their creative sportrait, taken on Nov. 5, 2021, well before the start of their historic season.

It was a pose, but these Bobcats were hardly poseurs.

With major contributions from the four — from left, Meghan Graff of South Portland, Maine, Jenna Berens of Durham, Conn., Brianna Gadaleta of Chappaqua, N.Y., and Kayla Bridgeman of Brooklyn, N.Y. — the Bobcats went on to win their first NESCAC title, then advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament.

The sportrait “brings out the competitiveness of our team,” says Graff.

(The smoke, by the way, was created by a fogging device that Burns borrowed from a local electrician, who uses it for HVAC testing.)

Supporter and competitor

This creative sportrait “shows our personalities very well,” says golfer Maddy Kwei ‘25 of Pasadena, Calif. She’s holding the tee in her teeth as her friend and teammate Nerea Barranco Aramburu ‘25 of Zarautz, Spain, takes the backswing. “We’re each other’s supporter and competitor on the course, and that’s the best part.”

“We both love to have a laugh on the course and with our coaches and teammates,” she adds. “We’re here to compete seriously, but also �ֲ���ý golf wouldn’t be �ֲ���ý golf without some smiles and fun.”