Odd Year Pull: An Honor, A Legacy, A Family

Guest writer: Sadee Zeller (’25)
We stood there in a circle, our 2-7 coaching staff, as the maroon and gold of our coaches whom we learned everything from and alumni from years and years past flooded the practice field. Holding hands, we prayed together, with the entire team of 2-7 surrounding us, knees and boots splotchy with mud, sweat making their faces glow, tears from exhaustion and hard work filling their eyes. This was the final prayer circle of the season, the final time I would be in this circle as an Odd Year coach. 

I thought back to the first time we prayed on this field. Our coach said, “Alright 2-5, I’m going to pray for us. Feel free to join or not, whatever you feel comfortable with.” I remembered the hands of my teammates extending toward mine as we recited the Lord’s Prayer. I closed my eyes while the voices of each individual harmonized with each other. It was so evident in this moment that God had brought each and every single person to this circle in His perfect timing. This was more than a tug-of-war competition; this was a community, a people, a family and a legacy being built and transformed. 

Coming into my freshman year at Hope, I had never been one to step outside of my comfort zone. I found safety in coming home every day to the same people, the same walls and the same living room I would watch The Office in after high school. There were many things I would have never dared to do, including asking a waiter to correct a wrong food order. Doing the Pull back then seemed as silly as a sloth entering a marathon. 

As college approached closer, I received a FaceTime from my sister and her two friends. Their heads smooshed together on the screen, they looked at me through the phone and said bluntly, “Sadee. You should do the Pull.” 

All three of them had graduated from Hope seven years prior, so I had gone to see the Pull over the Black River once before while visiting campus. I looked back at the screen with a “yeah right” expression on my face. 

“That insane tug-of-war thing with the mohawks and eyeblack?? Pfft, no way,” I told them.

They convinced me to watch an old Odd Year rally video while on FaceTime with them, which only made my decision even clearer: there was no way I would ever do the Pull. 

A few days later, I got a text that said a new group chat had been created. The chat was titled, “Sadee: DO THE PULL.” But, the chat wasn’t left here. My sister’s friend Bri typed: If you do the pull, I’ll pay you $300.  I remember my jaw dropping. Bri had always wanted to do the Pull, but never got to it. She was trying to live vicariously through me, while my sister was trying to pop me out of my comfort bubble. This was a heck of a good bribe, yet freshman me still wasn’t on board. 

A few weeks went on and the more I insisted I wouldn’t do it, the more the bribe amount grew, as they were sure I wouldn’t do it. A bunch of my sister’s college friends who knew me started pitching in. The final total came out to $500. The next thing I knew, I was at my first Pull practice. 

That first day was interesting, to say the least. After leaving the Pull site, I kept telling myself I was not going back ever again. However, one of my best friends, who later became my puller for the next two years, convinced me to come back and try one more practice. After this “one more practice,” I never missed another day. I worked harder than I ever have in the three weeks leading up to the big event, finally realized my capability and found a love for Odd Year Pull.

This bet will always be funny and absolutely wild to me, but when I think of the Pull now, it is not this silly little bet that comes first to my mind. Instead, I think of my best friends, my coaches, and the hard work and limits that were pushed through at each and every practice and on Pull Day itself. I think of a legacy and a team that is much greater than myself. 

Every single person who joins the Pull is working through something different. Whether it is fueled by difficult circumstances in their personal life, a desire for better self-discipline, a drive to push themselves or the need to show themselves they are capable, I have witnessed a growth and work ethic like no other on each team during these years. I’ve seen people push through mental barriers to plank just a couple of seconds longer, or to stay on that rope hours longer regardless of the amount of pain they’re in. The Pull pushes you, breaks you and then rebuilds you. 

In Odd Year Pull, the word honor is often brought up. I don’t think I fully understood the weight of this word and its relation to the Pull until my last season of coaching. There is something so raw and incredible about getting to represent and teach the thing you love to people you love. Our coaching staff prayed over the team of 2-7 so much. We prayed over their mental and physical health and strength, as well as for courage and perseverance for them. Most importantly, we prayed that the team of 2-7 would be able to experience the same passion we did for the Pull. We prayed they would find a home and a family here. After seeing our team on Pull Day and when it ended, I feel honored to be able to pass this tradition down to them as they lead the 2-9 team. 

These past four years, I have experienced the rawness of joy and satisfaction, though not every moment always felt like this at first. Going into Pull Day, the words every team member prays to hear are “reel it in.” Unfortunately, our three weeks of work and dedication do not always end in this. These moments of the Pull feel sickening and sorrowful at first, but I believe there to be a lot of power in times like this. There is a quote of the wise words of Ted Lasso that goes, “I promise you there is something worse out there than being sad, and that is being alone and sad. Ain’t no one in this room alone.” If anything depicts my time in the Pull, it is these words. In Odd Year Pull, a family and a legacy is found regardless of all else. We pull for the people in front of us, behind us, for the alumni who have come before us and for all future Odd Year pullers and morale. On the Odd Year Pull team, we win together, we lose together, we pray together, we love each other, we pull together, we pull together, we pull together. Nobody in this legacy will ever be alone while doing so.

(Featured image source: Odd Year Pull’s Instagram page)