Vuvuzelas have recently become increasingly popular throughout the world. The long, thin, horn-like instruments were used at the World Cup and have spread all the way to the students at LHS. Seniors Dan Guerrero and Michelle Zhang are selling them for four dollars apiece.
Guerrero and Zhang approached executive student council Vice President Nikki Indart about the idea.
“They came to me asking if it’d be a good idea to order them, and at first I said yes. But I talked to other people, and some liked the idea--except all the football players, who said they’d hate it and the vuvuzelas would be annoying and a distraction,” Indart said.
Guerrero and Zhang decided to order them anyway, without approval from the administration. They didn’t ask the administration because they knew they would be against the idea, and they figured they'd have fun with it while they could.
"We decided to order a mass shipment from a website we found on the Internet. I guess Kuz found out what they were and talked to the administration. And they put a ban on them. We’re still going to hand them out and let the people march with them. We’re just going to restrict them from being used at games,” Guerrero said.
The prime reason the vuvuzelas are not allowed and will be taken away at games is because they violate the IHSA rules. Any artificial noise maker of any kind (such as air horns and whistles) is banned from sporting contests. They are a distraction to the players and the audience, and a referee can give a team a 50-yard penalty because of them.
“We really just go by the IHSA rules, which don’t allow the vuvuzelas,” Assistant Principal Eric Moroscher said.
The vuvuzelas are very loud and obtrusive. Besides students, other residents who attend the games could be inconvenienced by the noise.
Even though some students are all for the idea of using the vuvuzelas at the games, many at the school are opposed.
“The primary purpose of the game is to focus on what’s happening on the field, not what’s going on in the stands,” Athletic Director Biant Kelley said.
However, there are the students who plan to trudge ahead with the vuvuzelas and purchase them anyway.
“I think LHS bringing vuvuzelas to football games is awesome,” junior Marissa Ovassapian said.
Photo by: g.smith
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