Redmond Superfans Look to Uphold New Tradition

They are impossible to miss: dressed from head to toe in Mustang green and gold (or all-black for special "Blackout" contests), standing the entire game and creating enough noise to make some college student sections envious.

There is no doubt that if you have attended a sporting event in the last two decades, you have bared witness to the Superfans.

Led by a hand-picked senior who has the honor passed down to him at the end of the school year in the form of a novelty cone with the names of previous Superfan captains, Redmond students take supporting their peers and athletic teams to a new level.

This year, the designated Superfan captain is Zach Abbruzza, a Redmond senior baseball player who is responsible for leading chants, spearheading organized cheers and generally setting the tone for the rest of the Superfans.

"There has definitely been a strong tradition at Redmond, and we knew as seniors we wanted to take that role," said Abbruzza.

They are most noticeable at football games, where their numbers sometimes swell to more than a few hundred, but the Superfans are also visible at boys and girls basketball games and other sporting events.

It was the responsibility of Abbruzza, as the captain, to choose co-captains for this season who would assist in the process of leading the RHS student section.

The two he came up with are friends and fellow seniors Charlie Mroz and Mike Conforto, who know that the rest of the student body looks to them for their ideal of a Superfan.

It's that inspiration that keeps them going throughout the fall and winter sports seasons, which all three noted can test a person's will to to be a true Superfan.

"It's definitely a grind, but we respect the tradition," said Abbruzza.

Part of that tradition has been forced to undergo a vital makeover in recent years.

During a boys basketball game at Redmond High School in 2009 between the Mustangs and the Garfield Bulldogs, a RHS student and Superfan came out of the stands and assaulted a Garfield player on the court.

The punch had a lasting impact on the school, community, KingCo policy and most importantly, the Superfans themselves.

Redmond students and fans were kept in the gymnasium until all Garfield personnel and fans had exited the campus and during that time, endured a stern lecture from RHS administrators about the importance of representing their school and community with class and dignity.

For the safety reasons, the game was suspended with a little more than five minutes remaining and the Bulldogs comfortably in the lead.

RHS officials refused to comment to Redmond Patch on the the school's punnishment for the student in question except to say it was "significant" in nature.

No charges were filed againts the individual, per the request of the Garfield player who absorbed the on-court blow.

After the game, Redmond Athletic Director John Applegate was quoted in the The Seattle Times as saying, "We just felt it was too hostile of an environment here, and it created a safety concern for everybody," for the reason behind the cancellation of the remaining five-plus minutes of game action.

WIAA officials later determined Garfield would be deemed winners and the score would be kept as it was at the time of the melee (50-33 in favor of the Bulldogs).

In the aftermath, the Superfans were forced to revisit their founding principles and decide if they could function in a sporting atmosphere where hostility and negativity would no longer be tolerated to any extent.

The response has thus far been mixed. While there has certainly not been a recurrence of the ugliness of 2009, the Superfans are still adjusting to their "no tolerance" policy on negative cheering.

They are chastised by administrators if they single out opposing players or officials. Redmond High School principal Jane Todd said this year's Superfan captains have been effective at leading their classmates in the right direction.

"We managed to convince them that they didn't have to be negative to have a good time, and they rose to the occassion," Todd said.

But the Superfans still have moments where they regress to their previously acceptable norms.

During a Feb. 10 game against Inglemoor in the 4A KingCo boys basketball tournament, the Superfans could be seen aggressively addressing officials when a call went against their team, sometimes using objectionable language to do so.

They also still struggle to completely omit chants directed at opposing players, but have managed to steer away from the sorts of personal attacks that caused tensions to boil over in the past.

It's a fluid process and RHS officials believe that the negative incidents of the past will enable them to create a positive model for fan behavior that other KingCo schools with similar issues could follow.

"It spurned league-wide policy change, and I think Redmond really took the lead on that," Appelgate said.

With each season, RHS and the Superfans move further away from that unfortunate day, and Abbruzza said he already has a few individuals in mind who could continue the new approach of the Superfans into the next season as the captain.

There is no doubt that whoever takes the lead, they will do so with a forceful and passionate following of peers who are ready to suit up and represent for the Mustangs in 2011-2012 and beyond.

"We have to keep the tradition going — it's a big deal at Redmond," Mroz said.

Local Editor Caitlin Moran contributed to this story.