Students participate in President’s Cup on Sunday, May 7.
Students looking for fun and informal sports competitions with their form and dorm need not look further.
This spring, Boar Pen organized two exciting sports events for the Choate community: President’s Cup (P-Cup), an inter-dorm softball tournament, and Powder Puff, an inter-form football game for female-identifying students.
While this year’s sport for the P-Cup tournament is softball, historically, P-Cup has been played in every sport at Choate and only became limited to softball as participation decreased over time.
Students sign up to play as a dorm and can draft day students onto their team. The tournament will take place every Sunday for several weeks, with dorms competing against each other until there is a winner.
The first round of the competition was held on May 7. Quantrell House, Spencer House, Tenney House, and Pratt 200 all successfully moved onto the next round of competitions on May 14.
According to Boar Pen member David Hallal ’23, official P-Cup tournaments have been on hiatus at least since the pandemic. “I heard it was a lot of fun … we wanted to officially run it back this year, so everybody had a chance to participate,” Hallal said. “Bringing back P-Cup is something that the School has urged us to do.”
Another Boar Pen member Sachi Mehra ’23 highlighted the power of playing softball to bring together the community: “[Softball] can bring people together, you don’t need too much skill or athleticism to really play. It’s a universal sport.”
Female-identifying also students had the opportunity to participate in Powder Puff on May 12. In the game, these students are trained by members of Choate’s football team to compete in football. Each form participates as a team against other grades. This year, Hallal coached the freshman team. Mehra designed the t-shirts to look like football jerseys, and each form sported a unique color and number.
Powder Puff can be empowering for female-identifying students. Mehra recalled, “Doing Powder Puff my sophomore year led me to start thinking about joining the football team my junior year. I want to get more exposure for girls who play the sport.”
Jimena Acosta ’23 has been an eager participant of Powder Puff in past years. “It’s interesting to see these football PG’s [postgraduates] trying to coach sophomore girls in football, and it’s hilarious,” she said.
Acosta most appreciates the sense of unity within forms at Powder Puff. “I feel like all these events where it’s grade against grade bring together people you don’t normally interact with,” she said.
Recounting Powder Puff last year, Virginia Nelson ’25 shared, “We lost, but it was a fun experience, and it was a bonding experience, and everyone thought it was funny.” Nelson enjoyed “getting to play against prefects [and] tackling other girls” and said that “the overall experience is a lot of fun.” She plans to compete in Powder Puff this year, as well.
Rachel Miller ’23, a fellow Boar Pen member, emphasized, “A lot of [the] time, girls aren’t considered as valuable in their athleticism. I’m excited to have that moment for girls.”
