Whenever any sporting event bears the crowd-drawing title ‘Westview vs. Mt. Carmel’ tense emotions are held within the stands and on the field. Whatever the sport, the players on both teams know each other well, and both teams feel that to be victorious would be to achieve bragging rights in the community. In some ways, these games feel like a sibling rivalry. 

For some, times around these events bring many increased feelings of hostility due to our athletic discrepancies in some areas compared to Mt. Carmel; the usual downplaying of their intelligence, or difficulty and diligence of their classes occurs. 

This unnecessary increase in hostility was ever-present in the form of excitement on the Westview campus the day before the MC football game. Hopeful ambitions that we might now defeat our foe so close to our heart filled our heads, only to later be severely disappointed by another loss.

This sibling-like rivalry is something that rings very true for me, having a step-brother at Mt. Carmel. We already had a bit of a traditional sibling rivalry to start with, and having our house divided between Westview and Mt. Carmel made it worse.

Although some people believe that the Mt. Carmel cross-town rivalry is a fun way to drum up school spirit, I personally believe school rivalries are petty and cause us to feel divided from those who are closest to us.

Some feel this rivalry is a fun way to get people involved in our school, but I feel like it increases unproductive tribalism and animosity among students.

I was one of these people who used to embrace tribalism; my whole family did. It was always me and my mom rooting on the side of Westview and my step-brother and step-dad rooting on the side of Mt. Carmel. Every night after water polo games were played against each other, feelings around the dinner table would be tense and slightly awkward. No one would dare to bring up the game. 

This happened throughout my freshman and sophomore years. I used the promise of beating him one day to fuel my training for water polo games against Mt. Carmel.

When we would lose, I would be devastated at the fact that I would have to eat dinner across from them later that night as they quietly basked in the glory. 

But over time as I tried to lean into this rivalry, kept losing, and feeling bad about myself, I realized that something was wrong in my system. No matter what I did, win or lose, I  felt like I needed to best my step-brother more.

What I eventually came to learn was that, the things I had hoped to get from beating my step-brother: happiness, confidence, and a feeling of superiority would not come from an external battle but an internal acceptance.

And now around the dinner table, my whole family has come to adopt the same idea, games are barely remembered or held onto by either side for more than a day.

With both school and sibling rivalries, my need to feel better than him was due to so many of our similarities: we played the same sports, attended the same middle school, and grew up in the same environment. So, for me to best him–or for Westview to best Mt. Carmel–was a matter of besting a part of ourselves.

I wanted so badly to beat Mt. Carmel when playing them in water polo games and at swim meets because of my own insecurities surrounding my skill level and feelings of inadequacy. 

Only once I came to accept myself and tried to get better for the sake of personal growth did I truly get the things I originally sought.

So, as I write this on Sept. 12 anticipating the water polo game against Mt. Carmel tomorrow, Wednesday, Sept. 13 where both my step-brother and I are captains of our teams respectively. Instead of going into the game with a craving for annihilation. Instead, I want to see it as a chance to have some friendly competition with a step-brother that I will not be able to play with much longer as he is a senior this year. 

Soon, both of us will be far away from the pools where we once competed against each other in, and I hope when we later meet around Thanksgiving tables and Christmas trees we can reminisce over the amazing aquatic sports that we were able to both play with each other and grow from. 

I hope to leave both this sibling and school rivalry in the past.