Every sports team that I’ve participated in during my time at Uni has involved secret buddies, and it’s getting really tiresome.

Secret buddies is a tradition for most girl teams. Each player is assigned a teammate for whom they will be a secret buddy. One is supposed to make signs for their teammate, give them candy presents, etc. before each athletic event. Technically, the person to whom you're giving signs should have no idea of your identity. This activity is meant to get players pumped up for the game.

It should be noted that colloquially, the term secret buddy is used to refer to the giver and the receiver. As in, I am Amy's secret buddy, but also, I didn't give my secret buddy a sign today.

At the beginning of my freshman year the idea of having a secret buddy was exciting. I did something for my swim team secret buddy before almost every meet. However, it got old fast.

During basketball and soccer season, I was a horrible secret buddy. This trend has continued into this year. I often forgot to do things for my swim team secret buddy, and I’ve barely done anything for my basketball secret buddy even though we’ve already had many games.

Signs do get people pumped up, but they aren't as effective as one might think. They seem to always say the same thing, and people just start to look forward to the treats that come with the signs.

It’s also quite annoying when, after you’ve put in a lot of time and effort into being a good secret buddy, there’s nothing hanging on your locker to get you pumped up. It just doesn't seem fair.

Being a good secret buddy is a commitment that I’m not really willing to dedicate myself to. It seems silly to take the time to make these signs and go out and buy candy for my secret buddy.

Participating in a sport takes up a lot of time in itself, and homework tends to fill the time not used by sports. When we have multiple games a week from which we get back really late, I can barely get my homework done on time. The little free time I have, I want to use for something that I want to do.

Especially with finals coming up I don’t want to waste time making pretty bubble letters. I’d rather concentrate on finishing my homework this week and saving time to study for all of the tests I have next week.

Additionally, I’m not exactly sure how a teamwide secret buddy program constitutes a way for teammates to get closer. Everything is always done in secret and it doesn’t actually involve any talking. I don’t feel any particular closeness to my secret buddies just because I’m suppose to make signs for them. I think that a pasta night or something similar would create a closer atmosphere.

Maybe being a tri-sport athlete contributes somewhat to my negative opinion on this activity, but I think that it should be a team choice at the beginning of each season whether to do secret buddies or not. The system falls apart anyway if most people don't want to do secret buddies and are forced into it. These players will probably be bad secret buddies.

Call it selfishness or laziness, but making a billion signs that say the same thing for two months and then receiving signs that again repeat themselves is tedious and pointless. Multiply that by three sports seasons. Wouldn't you find it tiresome?