HOLLAND, Mich. — For 127 years, Hope College has hosted The Pull. Freshman versus sophomores — competing in three straight hours of tug of war.
This year, it will be the class of 2027 versus the class of 2028 pulling for the win.
Bruce Geelhoed competed in The Pull as a sophomore in 1967. The rich tradition impacted him so much — he's publishing a book about it.
“I teach history, and this is certainly a historical event," Geelhoed said.
Like Geelhoed, current Hope junior Carlos Prieto previously competed in The Pull.
Prieto's freshman team beat the sophomores — most likely because it was all they thought about for three weeks. “I just remember waking up, and that was the first thing on my mind," Prieto said. "Going to bed, that was the last thing I thought about.”
From now until this year's pull, these teams will be practicing up to five hours a day. So, it's safe to say that they take this very seriously.
Former competitor and now coach of the freshman team, Alexandria Brown, hopes to lead her team to victory.
“Once there's tensions on the rope, that's when the pullers lock in and get in position where they'll sit for the next three hours of the competition,” Brown said.
Brown tells me there's the defensive maneuver and the offensive maneuver when competing in this tug of war competition.
“A defensive maneuver is a strain, and that's where you put your body in as much contact and as much strain on the rope as possible,” Brown explained. “The offensive maneuver is a heave, and that's honestly just a complicated sequence of events.”
No matter what the maneuver, 18 competitors on each team will attempt to secure their win.
Geelhoed believes that this long-lasting tradition has endured for more than a century, and through the generations, because, as he said, “It’s a competitive event, it's long-standing. It lasts.”
This year's pull takes place in just a few weeks, on September 28 from 3 to 6 p.m.
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