Grand Canyon University (GCU) holds the hottest ticket in the valley when it comes to men’s college basketball as they turned a small NAIA program into making their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021. However, that ticket covers much more than just a basketball game, it includes an experience that only the Havocs can give.
The GCU student section is known as the Havocs because of the great damage they bring to the opposing team’s confidence. The Havocs have become one of the best student sections in college basketball, but it has not always been layups and free throws for GCU students.
The Havocs have come a long way to reach the reputation they have now and that is all thanks to former GCU cheerleading coach, Emily Stephens).
Stephens started working at GCU in 2008 and immediately launched the cheerleading program after losing it in the early ‘90s. Stephens’ background with cheering in college and coaching at a local Arizona high school gave her the confidence to start from the ground up at a school like GCU.
“GCU was a small school with 1,500 students on campus, you know, it was smaller than the high school I was coaching at the time,” Stephens said.
Little did Stephens know her small gig would turn into being an entire production filled with GCU pride throughout the university. Three years into her coaching career at GCU, a pep band, dance team, a mascot and student section assembled on campus and were all under her lead.
“I was there for the very beginning when we were trying to figure it out,” Stephens said. “We were playing in a small gym, then we built an arena so of course everyone really wanted to grow that, so that’s when I really transitioned into director of spirit programs.”
Through her role as director of spirit programs, Stephens helped develop and oversee the Havocs throughout her 13 years at the university. This role led to a lot of collaboration with other groups in the spirit program to make the student section what it is today.
GCU alumna, Ashlyn Hastings, was the cheerleading captain during her last two years at GCU before graduating in 2017. While cheering at the games she got a front row seat to the experience, but there is a lot more that goes into that experience when behind the scenes.
“Now as a spectator I see that it is just like a party and it is fun, but when you’re actually in it and you’re in charge of leading it, you take it very seriously,” Hastings said.
Every year the leaders of all five spirit programs meet at the beginning of the school year to map out what they all want for the student section, the environment they want to create and the overall culture.
“It was very integrated and calculated too,” Hastings said. “It was very organized.”
The passion and enthusiasm from the spirit programs is evident as they create an in-game experience that keeps getting better every year.
“It’s not very common where you have all five groups working very cohesively together,” Stephens said. “I think because I was in charge of all of that, I tried to make sure everybody was all on the same page and complementing one another.”
With the construction of GCU arena in 2011, the maximum capacity at basketball games could reach 7,000 people. However, the first couple years in the arena was not what the Havocs are today.
“In the arena, we were doing okay,” Stephens said. “Students were coming but we were only getting about 40-50 students at the game.”
That is when Stephens knew there needed to be a change in order for the student attendance to rise and flourish. Stephens and her colleagues made trips around the country to look at other college student sections for ideas and advice.
“I actually took a trip to Gonzaga University because Gonzaga has an amazing student section,” Stephens said. “I talked to their leaders to see what they do and just got tips from them.”
After those visits, Stephens learned that one of the things she wanted for GCU was for it to be a student-led student section. Which birthed the position of the Havoc leaders who make the big decisions for basketball games from the music, choosing themes of the game and the entertainment during timeouts.
“They [Havoc leaders] take it extremely serious and they are part of all big decisions as they sit in with the executives on a weekly basis, discuss strategies and work with the marketing team,” Stephens said.
That became the strategy for GCU, giving students the opportunity to come up with the ideas for games because it is for them, which led to packed stands at every game and lines wrapped around the arena as students waited for tickets.
According to Stephens, the Havoc leaders have become a coveted position on campus as hundreds of students go through the interview process to hopefully hold one of the biggest jobs on campus.
That is when the Havocs took off and the party officially started.
“The bigger the student section got, the more people came,” Hastings said. “I think sometimes people come to the games just to be a part of the environment and not even to really watch the game.”
Although the game is the most important thing for GCU players, it is hard not to get drawn into the crowd. Especially for former GCU player, Gerard Martin, who was a defensive spark filled with an energy that matched the Havocs.
“I’m someone who plays with a lot of energy and passion, so when there are other people providing that energy and they aren’t even in the game, I feed off that for sure,” Martin said.
After finishing his 5th and final season at GCU in 2019, Martin joined the coaching staff at California Baptist University (CBU). CBU plays in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) with GCU, which means Martin has experienced the Havocs as a friend and a foe.
“When coaches and teams come in, they try to communicate with one another, but they can’t [communicate] as effectively as in any other arena in the country because it’s just so loud.”
From the speakers blasting music, fans jumping and screaming and the band performing, the noise level becomes a huge factor for GCU. According to Martin, the Havocs are wild and legitimately will go nuts during the game.
“It’s just a surreal thing for an 18- to 22-year-old basketball player to get that feeling. I’m not going to get that again for the rest of my life, ever.”
The Havocs energy lifts the players to play harder and to put on a show that the crowd will remember forever. Which leads players, like Martin, to do some wild things after forcing a turnover in the final seconds to win a big game.
“I jumped up on the scores table and started screaming at the crowd,” Martin said. “We were playing San Diego State at GCU, that doesn’t happen very often so there were 7,500 people there going ballistic.”
Even though the Havocs are known for their contagious energy, they are much more than a rowdy student section.
“The first word that comes to mind is community,” Martin said when describing the Havocs. “That’s when I truly started enjoying it more because I would know everyone in the first two rows, and they would know me on an actual personal basis.”
The GCU games are a place for students to make friends, foster community and a space that invites everyone to come as they are.
“It’s just open and everyone is welcome,” Stephens said. “It is the one place you don’t have to really know anybody or even like sports, and you don’t necessarily need to have anything in common with anybody. You just get to come and be yourself.”
The GCU pride runs deep and the Havocs are hosting the best party in town. The work of the Havocs looks different every year as they are constantly growing, but each year there is one purpose in mind.
“That purpose is to raise the enthusiasm and comradery to be a positive influence in the heart of Phoenix,” Stephens said.
Comentários