Blue and White

Bouvé blue team, ca. 1945.

Bouvé white team, ca. 1945.

A House Divided

At the School’s founding, Bouvé teams competed against teams from the Sargent School and the Posse-Nissen School, the two other institutions of physical education in Boston. The intramural, Blue-White competition, however, comprised most of the athletic competitions for the BSPE student body. Athletic and scholastic events as well as demonstrations of school spirit all fell under the Blue-White divide. The teams vied for achievement points throughout the year, but the competition was not designed to forge a bitter rivalry between the opponents. Rather, heated battles in the classroom or on the field allowed fellow students to display their skill against each other.

 

Song and ceremony shaped the Blue-White competitions. Team song leaders demonstrated their spirit with team cheers, most often composed by members of the team as new versions of familiar chants. The winner of the yearlong competition received a silver candlestick engraved with the date and name of the victor. The team had the honor of displaying the candlestick with a candle of their respective color. The annual event infused an attitude of continuous competition into Bouvé culture.