The late, beloved Bates poet Robert Farnsworth said that our ability to create and comprehend metaphor — “to think in one thing in terms of another” — was the “central passion of the human creature.”
Before each season, Bobcat student-athletes express passion for their sports through “sportraits,” playful and creative photographs taken during media day that often reveal not just what sport they play, but who they are and what they care about.
This winter, some chose props — a chef’s hat, a plant, even a makeshift rowboat — to build metaphors and tell stories about teamwork, resilience, or pure joy, with irony and humor as delightful side dishes.
Here are our top seven sportraits from winter 2025 — each one its own kind of poetry.
Cooking up a successful season
Noah Katz ’27 “sautés” his swim cap in a pan brought to Bates from his home in Hallowell, Maine, about 40 minutes north of campus.
The concept reflects Katz’s love of cooking. As he likes to say, quoting chef Auguste Gusteau from Ratatouille, “Anyone can cook, but only the fearless can be great.”
“Pastas are my specialty,” says Katz. “I love to cook, and I wanted to get a chef’s hat and pan for media day, since sportraits are always more fun with props.”
“We have some of the best media day photos in the country, and I’m honored to represent Bates every single day.”
A little dab’ll do ya
When emailed about their choice of doing the dab for this sportrait, none of these Nordic skiers responded. Well, who can blame them?
The move was briefly popular a decade or so ago, when these Bobcats were in middle school, when maybe some of them dabbed. The craze jumped the shark — with great elevation — around January 2016, when then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton did the move on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
So their pose is ironic and humorous (note the laughter), offered at photographer Brewster Burns’ suggestion, who promised that “30 years from now, you’ll think it’s hilarious.” Time will tell.
Snap a selfie
Fads come and go, and while the era of the selfie seems to be declining (and their sidekick, the selfie-stick), the juniors on the men’s basketball team used the motif to strong effect.
“We wanted to capture the closeness and camaraderie of this group and thought the selfie captured this best,” explains Elliott Cravitz ’26 of Denver (right), holding the phone with, from left, Brady Coyne ’26 of Falmouth, Maine, Peter Psyhogeos ’26 of Cumb Foreside, Maine, David Omasombo ’26 of Lewiston, and Chiwer Mayen ’26 of Lewiston.
“Lifting” each other up
Elevating his interest in powerlifting, Bates thrower Solomon Sakakeeny-Smith ’25 of Boston, Mass., deadlifts two teammates, sprinters Mario Ferro ’26 (left) of Manchester, N.H., and Truman Williams ’25 (right) of Montclair, N.J.
Sakakeeny-Smith got into lifting during the winter of his first year. He had rowed during the fall and wanted a new athletic outlet. “Since then, weightlifting has been a key part of my athletic training, especially since I joined the track team as a thrower.”
Growing together
If you’re a Bates student, you probably know the power of metaphors to create meaning.
Last fall, the squash team met with Athletics leadership to discuss goals and intentions for the year, which planted the seed of an idea.
One of the administrators said that building a strong team culture is like taking care of a plant: You have to water it every day or it will die. “It might look great one day, but if you forget about it, it’s going to deteriorate,” says Max Good ’25 (left) of Shaker Heights, Ohio.
The team bought into it, literally, bringing and watering this plant at the sportrait session. From left are Good, Dennis Welte ’28 of Stuttgart, Germany, Labeeb Ali ’25 of Plano, Texas, and Harris Ramlee ’25 of Orland Park, Ill.
Something of a mascot, the plant lives in some corner of the Bates Squash Center, “our ‘squash shack,’” says Good. (For now, the plant is artificial, but give the guys some time.)
Adam to Washington
It’s important for a team to all be on the same page. Or rowing in the same direction, like the first-year swimmers and divers in their re-creation of Emanuel Leutze’’s painting Washington Crossing the Delaware.
Team captain Jack Mocarski ’25 of Fairfield, Conn., credits the concept to Isabelle Chou ’28 of East Greenwich, R.I. For props, the Bobcats scrounged the entire pool: they used the large tub for the divers as the boat, noodles as the oars, and a Bates flag to represent the American flag.
The swim team leads the way in creating outlandish team sportraits, including ones that spoof famous works of art. Two years ago, Kailer Tom ’26 of Daly City, Calif., and Jack Mocarski ’25 of Fairfield, Conn., spoofed Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam.
Shine on
There are ups and downs — sunshine and rain — to any athletic season, but Bates athletes push through.
These first-year runners have a saying, says Jaylen Tang ’28 (left) of Tenafly, N.J.: “Getting rained on” means allowing “excuses and injuries plague us into having a bad season.”
“Rain is all the other factors and excuses that affect us during the season that could negatively influence us. The umbrella represents the hard work and dedication we put into the season — the shield needed to have a positive season with no excuses holding us back.”
“Back”country skiing
Skis belong underfoot — unless they’re needed to send a message that you need to be strong to ski fast.
During the fall, before snow or snowmaking opens the Maine slopes, Bates skiers train hard. Weightlifting plays a big role in their preparation for the winter season.
“We have a day where we ‘max out’ in the gym,” explains Kenzie Arnott ’25 of Stowe, Vt. “We all lift as heavy as we can in order to compare how strong we are at the beginning vs. the end of the strength block,” the weeks-long stretch of strength training.
With that training in mind, the Alpine skiers went to work recreating one of those moments in a sportrait. That’s Lindsey Aten ’26 of Park City, Utah, using her Rossignol skis as a barbell.
“As you can see in the photo, these days involve a lot of cheering and support for one another, which we wanted to bring to life in the photo,” says Arnott.
Categories Athletics Creativity
