Imagine sitting in a car full of your teammates, driving from location to location and completing a set of dares created by the team’s seniors. You have already worn a wig for the entirety of the night, gotten someone to sign your forehead, rapped your order at a drive-through, sniffed a stranger’s clothes and are on your way to continue the long night ahead.

This wild concept is called Dare Night, a night where members from each sports team compete against one another, fighting to check off the most dares on the list. After each one is completed, the team will earn a certain number of points depending on the difficulty and risk of the dare. Whichever car has the most points by the end of the night wins and gains some type of prize (depending on what the team decides).

Dare Night has been a tradition for years and is used widely by the school’s sports teams. Field hockey, soccer, basketball and lacrosse participate each year as a celebration of the season. The event brings athletes together and fosters a sense of unity among their teams.

Sophomore Hannah Yuan is a member of the school’s soccer team and is ready to partake in her second Dare Night. Her first experience was last year when she was a freshman. Despite being the youngest on the team, Yuan was still able to hold her own against the upperclassmen. Her favorite dares were going knee deep in the Rio Shopping Center’s lake, making diss tracks on other schools’ soccer teams and running the “Chipotle mile,” a challenge where her teammate was required to eat a Chipotle burrito while on a one-mile run. “My overall experience was so fun and we all made so many memories,” Yuan said.

Each team has one driver — the driver is responsible for taking their team to each location to complete their dare. According to the athletes who partake in this challenge, their teams typically drive to public spaces because most of the dares involve interacting with strangers: Rio shopping center, Target and fast food restaurants are the most popular.

Senior Danielle Rubin has participated in field hockey’s Dare Night two times. She enjoyed her experience and is looking forward to doing it again this year as it is scheduled to take place on Friday, Nov. 14. “The craziest dares I did were the ones involving strangers,” Rubin said.
Junior Annika Gully had similar experiences during the lacrosse team’s Dare Night. Like Yuan, Gully has only participated in one Dare Night, but is excited to participate in soccer’s this year. Her team completed dares consisting of singing/hugging strangers, ding-dong ditching and going through a drive-through with two people on the roof of the car. “It was a really fun experience,” Gully said. “It was funny watching my teammates do all of these crazy things.”