Tanner Tortorella
ASU Student Journalist

The "Campo Crazies" are the soul for Campo Verde's school spirit

October 14, 2021 by Tanner Tortorella, Arizona State University


The phrase "CV Family" painted across their gym that highlights the morals for Campo Verde (Photo by: Tanner Tortorella)

Tanner Tortorella is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Campo Verde High School for AZPreps365.com.

In 2011, the second year of the school's existence, Campo Verde traveled for their football season opener at Apache Junction. They won the game 31-6, but no one was talking about that.

Everyone was talking about the busted bleacher that collapsed after the Coyotes faithful erupted after a touchdown. The destruction of the bleacher would echo through fellow high schools, telling all of them the same thing, the Campo Crazies have arrived.

To give context, Campo Verde opened in 2009 to a school filled with freshmen and sophomores. So, school loyalty was almost nonexistent. Loyalty takes time, it takes adversity, it takes togetherness, it takes all those things to establish a close-knitted bond.

"When you start a new school, there is nobody there to teach you what is school spirit," athletic director Max Ragsdale said. "You kind of figure it out yourself ... it's a process."

The fan build for any program, professional or amateur, is rugged. The process takes commitment to set a precedent for any school starting out, or sometimes it takes a bunch of high school students breaking a bleacher to create that identity.

Campo Verde's head football coach Ryan Freeman, who was an assistant coach during that game against Apache Junction, believes that night began the culture for the school that has only grown since then.

"They have their own section, they have their own pushup board, they come en masse, especially to the home games, and it's starting to bleed to the other sports now," Freeman said. "That community aspect with the Campo Crazies is something that continues to grow with the school."

A decade after the bleacher incident, the school has flourished in creating pride to support the community at the school. This doesn't just include the main sports like football or boys basketball, but  sports that other high schools tend to disregard, like girls volleyball.

The Campo Crazies have done their due diligence and make even the dullest of games entertaining throughout. Whether it's over 100 students in unison yelling "Boom!" When a player goes up to spike the ball or taunts the other team with clever chants. No matter what, the Campo Crazies make their presence felt throughout all sporting events.

"We really like the student section," head volleyball coach Tayler Peterson said. "The kids feed off of it, and it's just nice to have that support." 

Peterson continued how her predecessor helped build up the student section and laid the groundwork for the present day. However, the student council and the student body have also done a great job supporting one another throughout its events.

"Sometimes I can't tell who's an athlete on campus," Peterson said. "When I went to Hamilton, you could tell who the athletes were and who the fine arts kids were, but here I can't really tell because everyone congregates in one big family."

She talked about how special it is to bring her son into Campo's sports family and have him be around this community, even if he does cause the occasional spillages that cause Peterson to get a little distracted from the interview. Luckily there were players on standby to help clean up the situation. However, isn't that the clearest indicator of the togetherness that these programs have within themselves?

Each sports program builds off the idea of family. They even have the phrase "CV Family" painted high in the gym to ring through the whole school that this is their goal at Campo Verde. That is the sole ingredient of how Campo Crazies have thrived throughout its tenure. 

There is no hierarchy, as Freeman would highlight, between programs. He teaches his players to be a "positive support" on campus, whether supporting other programs or holding accountability for any issues that might arise. 

"We have some struggles on the field," Freeman said. "But I have got a lot of positive feedback from teachers, from students on campus that the boys really do care about the school, not just about them, and they definitely don't feel like they deserve special privileges." 

There is a synergy between all students to support the school and its program, which caused Ragsdale to call student council "The Bedrock" for the Campo Crazies as they have earned that elusive school spirit that seemed impossible a decade ago.

"We talk about the Campo way here, and we want it to be different as a school, and I think that culture bleeds across the board," Freeman said. "Always looking to help one another, so it is that family atmosphere, and it's more than just the program."

The students are essential components for the sprouting of family roots that Campo Verde tries to preach. The Campo Crazies wouldn't be where they are now without the passion elicited by the atmosphere apparent once on the campus. That passion will continue to grow bigger and stronger, making every bleacher in a 100-mile radius tremble in fear.