Fall 2024 Peddie-Blair Day is rapidly approaching, and accompanying the brewing competitive spirit of those hoping to reclaim the coveted Kelley-Potter Cup is the anticipation of all things Blair Day and Blair Week. Blair Week encompasses a wide variety of celebratory and preparatory events culminating in Blair Day, held this year on Saturday, November 9. Activities include spirit week, a pep rally, decorating spaces on campus in blue and gold, an energetic Friday chapel and, this year, Homecoming after the games. In addition to participating in fun events, many Falcons on competing fall sports teams are gearing up to face off against Blair Academy, getting ready to give it their all in a fight to win victories across the board on their home turf. To add to the growing excitement, The Peddie Poll surveyed the student body to find out their predictions regarding Peddie’s chances at victory.
What part/tradition of Blair Day are you most looking forward to?
As previously mentioned, Blair Day is more than just intense athletic competitions — leading up to the big day are countless activities for the Peddie community to enjoy. Taking first place for most beloved tradition is Peddie’s pep rally, voted the favorite by 27.9% of pollees. The pep rally, held at night, is a sure-fire way to get Falcons pumped up right before Blair Day. It normally includes a big celebratory bonfire that, unfortunately, is canceled this year due to ongoing local drought conditions; nonetheless, other activities such as a march/sprint around campus and group skits and dances are sure to keep the energy up.
Many students also said they enjoy spirit week (17.4%), which consists of a unique theme of dress for each day of the week, and watching or participating in a Blair Day athletic event (9.3% and 12.8% respectively). It is important to note that of the respondent pool, 47.7% were not affiliated with a competing team, which slightly limited their options. However, although they may not be directly contributing to the final score, viewers from the sidelines play an instrumental role in securing a Blair Day victory by cheering and supporting friends fighting on various fields, courts and in races.
What event, in your opinion, will be the most exciting to watch?
Ten teams will compete this year, 11 including an unofficial race between the two schools’ rowing teams. Each game, race or match has its own unique rules and aspects that make it exciting to spectate, but which ones are the Peddie community most hyped for? Over a quarter of student answers indicated that the varsity football game is the most highly anticipated game for them, likely because it usually comes with the highest stakes. One survey participant explained that “everyone in the stadium rallies together and fosters an insane amount of school spirit,” and that because football is held last and the matchups between Peddie and Blair are very strong, the outcome of the overall competition is often decided by the football team’s performance, making it a suspenseful contest.
Varsity girls tennis came in second, with varsity and JV boys soccer trailing right behind. Soccer games have historically been hard fought and closely matched, adding to the mounting tension as Blair Day progresses and four distinct soccer teams battle it out on the field. On the flip side, tennis is always an exciting sport to watch at Peddie due to the dominating strength of the blue and gold players — coming in hot with an undefeated record, both varsity and JV, who are scheduled to play in advance of the actual Blair Day date, are favorites to win important points for Peddie.
Predictions
Varsity and JV Girls Tennis
As stated above, both JV and varsity have an impressive record of never losing an overall match. 70% of respondents gave varsity, and over 50% of respondents gave JV a confidence rating of 100%, or a 10 on the form’s 1-10 scale, when asked how positive they were that the team would win. The tennis players who responded were a little less sure, but still collectively had positive outlooks on what they thought the results would be. Both teams also had the least votes for ratings 1-5, which encompassed less than 20% of the ratings. Safe to say that the student body has immense confidence in the girls’ tennis program.
Varsity and JV Girls Soccer
The girls soccer teams are more evenly split, with the JV girls having a slightly higher confidence rating than varsity. Still, over half of surveyed students, 96.5% of which were not a part of girls soccer, gave ratings between 6-10. The 3.5% who were players also submitted scores within that range. Both teams have persevered through a challenging season, finding victories in tough games and fighting valiantly in the others. However, in a varsity matchup against Blair Academy in mid-October, Blair was the decisive winner; Blair has also had a remarkably strong fall season. When looking at the teams Blair’s and Peddie’s JV teams played, Peddie’s JV girls seem to be better, although they are still similar. Girls soccer could certainly end either way, though the Peddie community polled in favor of our teams.
Varsity and JV Boys Soccer
Both JV and varsity boys soccer had tough seasons, but continued to push through together as a team. Blair’s record is similar, with varsity having a better record than JV. Boys soccer in particular has historically culminated in very close games. This year, Peddie may be slightly ahead of Blair’s teams. For example, Peddie’s JV team dominated twice, while Blair lost 5-1, against The Pennington School. Varsity also performed better in games against the same schools Blair faced. Polls indicated that predictions are split, with a trend towards ratings in the middle to lower half of the scale, indicating that boys soccer is always an intense and thrilling challenge against Blair.
Varsity and JV Girls Field Hockey
Ratings were very evenly distributed in the polls, with varsity having a slightly higher trend than JV. The team members themselves rated themselves on the mid to higher end of the scale. This year, Blair’s varsity fared a little better than Peddie in matchups against the same schools, but JV results are all within similar ranges, one of the most notable differences being a JV Peddie tie against The Lawrenceville School of 0-0 versus Blair’s 3-0 loss. It isn’t unfair to assume that many matchups, including the JV field hockey game, could end up being a draw for a long time, and any upset in score will be enough to secure a victory. However, Peddie has a solid chance of pulling through to victories for both teams.
Cross Country
Contrary to the way in which the survey was conducted, both boys and girls varsity and JV cross country teams will run together in the same race. Subsequently, data from both the boys and girls cross country portions was averaged into a single graph. 47% of the answers across the boys and girls sections were a 10/10 confidence-wise, with the rest of the respondent pool being fairly evenly distributed from 2-9 at much lower percentages. No one selected 1/10. Peddie’s cross country team has consistently shown strong progress and standings, especially in their victories against Blair Academy last year. With that in mind, we are all hoping for another XC domination this Saturday!
Varsity Boys Football
The football game may be the biggest source of excitement for Peddie students, but it is simultaneously the biggest source of apprehension. Football is often a tiebreaker, and unfortunately, Blair’s track record this past season has outdone Peddie’s. However, as was the case in last year’s Peddie-Blair football matchup, for a while, there was no scoring due to good defense on both sides. Football may be another game in which the first score of the game decides the victory, which gives Peddie an opportunity to triumph over Blair by scoring early on.
Average Rating*:
Varsity Girls Tennis – 8.76 (W)
JV Girls Tennis – 8.03 (W)
Varsity Girls Soccer – 6.03 (W/T)
JV Girls Soccer – 5.99 (W/T)
Varsity Boys Soccer – 4.57 (L/T)
JV Boys Soccer – 4.69 (L/T)
Varsity Field Hockey – 6.10 (W/T)
JV Field Hockey – 5.84 (W/T)
Football – 3.91 (L)
Cross Country – 7.98 (W)
*based on 86 student responses with double the weight placed on answers where an athlete rated their own team.
Balancing factors such as outcomes throughout the season, a certain degree of luck, possible fluctuations in performance, etc.:
Varsity Girls Tennis – (W)
JV Girls Tennis – (W)
Varsity Girls Soccer – (L)
JV Girls Soccer – (W)
Varsity Boys Soccer – (W/L)
JV Boys Soccer – (W/L)
Varsity Field Hockey – (L/W)
JV Field Hockey – (W)
Football – (L)
Cross Country – (W)
Overall, Peddie-Blair Day is sure to be marked by close matchup after close matchup, but Peddie has a good chance of taking home the Kelley-Potter Cup.
Would you like to see more/different events during Blair Day?
A bonus question involved polling to see what students at Peddie felt could be improved upon and added to the events presently featured during Blair Day. The most popular specific response was to add an official rowing event, although in general, most people who were in favor of adding events pointed out different sports, such as fencing, basketball, volleyball and golf, and other off-season sports. There was a 58-42% split, however, with 42% believing that Peddie-Blair Day was satisfactory as it currently is. One survey user claimed that “[t]oo many things going on at once can become overwhelming. At the end of the day, it isn’t about winning or losing, rather the friendships strengthened by the time spent with one another. These memories are what will last a lifetime!”
Truer words could not have been spoken. It is important to remember that, in addition to fostering an intense, high-spirited and exciting rivalry, Peddie-Blair Day also represents a time for students from the two different schools to meet and connect beyond being opponents on the field. No matter the outcome, the fun events, supportive camaraderie and energetic atmosphere that Blair Day is known to foster are what is most important.
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Thank you for tuning into The Peddie Poll! The Peddie Poll is dedicated to providing accurate reflections of student interests on a wide variety of relevant topics. We appreciate any feedback, suggestions, input and participation! Be sure to look out for another poll and article featured in the next issue of The Peddie News.
About the Survey
This survey was conducted through Google Forms with a total of 86 distinct student responses, which is a response rate of roughly 16%. The survey followed a generally open-response format; however, it utilized multiple choice selection with a write-in option to facilitate ease of graph depiction. This may have influenced the results of the survey by providing visible selections as students completed the survey. In addition, student answers may have veered towards a slightly optimistic trend due to association bias. More weight was placed during calculation of averages on answers where an athlete was rating their own team. All direct quotes were used with explicit permission from the person quoted.
