The Surge

Senior Gabriela Ferrer, Center Mid for the Bay’s Girls’ Varsity Soccer team since her freshman year, said the team celebrates the holiday season with many traditions, including a Secret Santa gift exchange and an overnight trip

1. What is one of your favorite parts about the Secret Santa?

My favorite part about the Secret Santa is getting to know the team and seeing all the funny pictures and stories that go along with decorating our lockers. It is a great way to get to know one another and perfect for team bonding. I feel like after this time of the season, we all know each other really well, which shows on and off the field. I also love seeing all of the little gifts that I get throughout the week and the effort that my teammate/Secret Santa went through to make my locker special.

2. Can you explain how the gift exchange works and the dynamics of it?

We start about two weeks before the Secret Santa by drawing names and then texting their friends or family members asking for funny pictures and stories that we could include in decorating their locker. The week before, we go to the locker room, secretly cover their locker in wrapping paper and add decorations; that is where the funny stories and pictures go. Then, throughout the week, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we leave a little gift in their locker which can be snacks, their favorite Starbucks drink or candy. Finally, we go on our overnight trip and do the full exchange with the bigger gift that we got. 

3. Where is the team traveling to this year and why are u excited to travel here (explain how we stay overnight) 

This year the team is traveling to Naples and we are playing Canterbury High School and Naples High School. We will leave school early on Thursday to travel to the high school that we are playing, play our first game then go to the hotel to shower and change. Then, we have dinner, our cooking competition and officially do our Secret Santa exchange in one of the rooms. I am excited to travel here because we have not been here before, so these are new teams that we have never played. It is always fun to have new competition and see different high schools. 

4. What are you looking forward to receiving or seeing in your locker? What are some of the things you will be putting in your Secret Santas locker?

I am just really excited to see my locker in general because I know that whoever has me did a really great job decorating and finding funny pictures. I am not picky when it comes to receiving gifts, I am grateful for any gift that I receive and just really love the experience and memories that the Secret Santa gives us. I got my Secret Santa a couple different things. I started the week off with a gift card to Chick-Fil-A, then got her some of her favorite snacks.  For the last day of locker gifts, I gave her a stuffed pillow of one of her favorite animals and a blanket for the road trip. For my big gift, I got her a hoodie from one of her favorite stores. 

5. What is the best part about traveling and staying in a hotel with the team during the holidays?

The best part about the overnight trip and Secret Santa is all the memories we make from it. We get to know each other better especially with all the funny stories in the lockers and just spending so much time together really helps the team. It is my favorite part of the season because of all the memories we make not only in the hotel, but the drive up and in the games as well. With me being a senior most of my favorite memories from high school soccer come from this trip and I am just really excited to see what we do this year. 

6. Can you elaborate on the cooking competition that takes place every year before the trip and why it is so important to the team?

The baking competition is done every year and the team is very competitive about it. On Wednesday before we leave for the trip, we are separated into groups where we go to someone’s house and make a dessert that we show to our coaches after dinner on Thursday. They then taste and judge the desserts, which can get really competitive but is also really funny. We take the competition very seriously, and this year we are making different holiday bars. It is another one of my favorite things about the trip, especially seeing all the different desserts and how they survived during the trip.

7. What does the team do once the game is finished and you head back to the hotel? What is your favorite part of this process? 

Once the first game is done, we go back into our assigned cars and drive back to the hotel where the team will get their room assignments, shower, change and get ready for dinner. We then eat dinner and have the cooking competition which takes up the majority of the time. Afterwards, we do our Secret Santa exchange and then it is lights-out because the next day we go on a tour at a nearby college before our second game. This year, since we are near Fort Myers, we are touring Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) before we go and play. My favorite part about this process is probably the cooking competition because it is really funny seeing all the girls get really competitive about which dessert is the best.