The annual Battle for the Paddle (B4P) spirit competition between Sandpoint and Lakeland is coming up in January 19.

For those who aren’t sure of what B4P is, here’s the rundown: it’s a spirit competition against Lakeland High School and both student bodies come dressed in their school colors. Each school is scored on different categories, varying from sportsmanship to the winners of events like lip sync, the paddle boat race and the basketball games.

At the end of the night, whichever school has the most points wins the Paddle and gets ultimate bragging rights until the next year.

Student Council starts working months ahead to plan and organize the whole event, and most of the student body may be unaware of what exactly that entails.

Student Council is responsible for practically every detail that goes into B4P, from ticket designs to deciding whether dance team and band get free t-shirts or not. The fine details are what make the whole event go smoothly.

When planning for Battle for the Paddle, Student Council is split up into nine committees: Fundraising, Crowd Involvement, Posters and Decorations, Liaison, Assembly, Swag and Sales, Paddle Babble, Paddle Boat Race, and Lip Sync.

A new addition to the event this year is “spirit packs”. The packs will contain favors that tie into the theme of the night, Boxing Bulldogs. To afford the spirit packs, Student Council will sell advertisements in the cheer booklet that goes out to all the Sandpoint students at B4P. The Swag and Sales Committee accordingly manages the spirit pack budget.

The Crowd Involvement Committee teams up with the cheerleading team to manage one of the most important components of the night: excitement and spirit in the student body. They create signs marked with all the cheers and will lead the crowd in chants.

The Crowd Involvement Committee is also responsible for creating an approximate schedule for how long each person will lead all the students in cheers and how long their breaks will be.

“Battle for the Paddle is by far my favorite event that Student Council puts on.  I love being a part of what goes on behind the scenes and the excitement and preparation leading up to the event. Knowing we organized a great event for the student body makes Battle for the Paddle all the more enjoyable,” ASB Secretary Alyssa Webster said. “I think organizing  it gets me even more excited than it would if I wasn’t involved in Student Council.”

Weeks of planning and coordination will come to fruition for the entire school at the event.

“There is so much work that goes into Battle for the Paddle that the student body doesn’t realize,” Webster said.