college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

, high school and

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, the sixth man is the fans attempting to influence the game by

cheering Cheering involves the uttering or making of sounds and may be used to encourage, excite to action, indicate approval or welcome. The word cheer originally meant face, countenance, or expression, and came through Old French into Middle English ...

and

chant A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes ...

ing for their team of choice. The fan section is referred to as the "sixth man", because they are considered the sixth "player" of their basketball team. High school and college

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

sections are numerous across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, and many share the same characteristics.

College basketball

Sixth man clubs originated in

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

, where deep crowds of students assemble to chant for their team. Quality sixth man squads attend home and away games to support their team. These

student section A student section or student cheering section is a group of student fans that supports its school's athletic teams at sporting events; they are known for being one of the most visible and vocal sections of a sports crowd as well as for their occ ...

s are strong parts of the game experience, and run the gamut from the Duke's infamous

Cameron Crazies The Cameron Crazies are the student section supporting the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team and the Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team. The section can hold approximately 1,200 occupants. The section, also deemed "The Zoo" by Al McGu ...

to the University of Illinois' altruistic

Orange Krush Orange Krush is a branch of the registered student organization (RSO), Illini Pride, at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. In its current form, the Organization has two faces. First, the Orange Krush is the student cheering section ...

. Many create identical shirts to appear unified and even more numerous. Sixth man clubs name themselves based on their school mascot or color. These student sections are known for their creativity in chants, intimidation tactics to distract the opposing team, and their creativity in raiding away games.

High school basketball

Sixth man squads assemble themselves together across the United States. Like their collegiate counterparts,

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

squads wear matching shirts and name themselves based on their mascot. High school sixth man clubs are able to have the largest impact on the games because the size of the gymnasium is much smaller than its college counterpart. Sixth man squads organize themselves sometimes inches away from the court and work to intimidate their opponents personally. Player-fan interactions occur a lot because of this. This can sometimes backfire, as was the case with former Wisconsin high school player and future NBA player

Tyler Herro Tyler Christopher Herro ( ; born January 20, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for one year with the Kentucky Wildcats. After bein ...

. Herro, born and raised in Wisconsin, originally committed to play for the University of Wisconsin but later changed his mind and committed to the University of Kentucky. Knowing this, a home crowd's sixth man chanted "Traitor" at him during a road game and Herro responded with a 45 point game and led his team to a road victory.

Goals and rituals

The "sixth man" has taken the role of cheering to a higher and more intense level. The main goal is to be so loud that their team gets pumped up, and the opposing team gets intimidated. Most squads choose to stand up during the whole game. Many squads put their hands in the air whenever their team is shooting a free throw for good luck.

Chants

* DE-FENSE! *Clap-Clap* * An ominous yell while their team is on defense, usually accompanied with jumping. * Let's Go eam Name*Clap.. Clap.. Clap Clap Clap* * Air-ball! (after the opposing team misses a shot that doesn't even hit the basket) * Fun-da-men-tals! or Back to Ba-Sics! (Usually after a turnover, travel, or

double dribble In basketball, an illegal dribble (colloquially called a double dribble or dribbling violation) occurs when a player ends their dribble by catching or causing the ball to come to rest in one or both hands and then dribbles it again with one hand ...

) * Bull-shit! (After a call that is not in their favor by referees, usually deemed inappropriate and discouraged) * Choke! (Before the opponent shoots a

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted ...

) * Over-rated! Clap..Clap..Clap Clap Clap (when the

underdog An underdog is a person or group in a competition, usually in sports and creative works, who is largely expected to lose. The party, team, or individual expected to win is called the favorite or top dog. In the case where an underdog wins, the ...

wins)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sixth Man (Fans) History of college basketball in the United States

College basketball

High school basketball

Goals and rituals

Chants

See also

References