It’s Friday night, and the Battle House Hotel is alive with activity. While true of just about any night at the historic institution, tonight is not just any night. In the heart of Downtown, amongst the hubbub of the oncoming weekend, a pregame ritual is taking shape. Tonight is the final stretch before the next South Alabama Jaguars home game. The journey to Hancock Whitney Stadium starts at the Battle House Hotel.
The University of South Alabama’s football team stays in Mobile’s storied hotel the night before each home game. What has only been a years-long practice from the early days of South Alabama’s football program is standard for college football programs across the country. A hometown hotel stay before a hometown football game is as practical as it is strategic. The Battle House serves as the Jaguars’ home away from home in Mobile during the crucial hours before eager and excited fans venture to Hancock Whitney Stadium to watch their next matchup. Here, distractions are limited, the routine is structured, focus comes more easily and everyone spends time together before the action on Saturday. In the short time before a football game, routine is essential. Away from the locker rooms, campus facilities and onsite meeting rooms, the hotel is their hub to eat, sleep and prepare.
After a few rounds of team meetings held at the football field house on campus on Friday afternoon, the team, coaches and athletic staff board the large South Alabama buses and make their way to the Battle House for the night. Walking through the historic corridors has a similar effect to walking through the tunnel before a game. Upon entering the Battle House, the muscle memory of the familiar routine takes over, immediately putting student-athletes in the zone. Not to say that the team’s time at the Battle House is all prep and no play, but the familiarity of the pregame surroundings sends cues that this is the beginning of the customary tradition before gameday.
Dinnertime comes quickly after their evening arrival as all head to the Moonlight Ballroom on the second floor. The ballroom lights overhead glow red, white and blue in a special welcome to the Jags. Every time the team stays at the hotel, the players can participate in an optional devotional before dinner. In the ballroom, a coach on staff gives a short, motivational speech. His words are meant to bring the team together, inspiring and motivating the players and others in attendance before tomorrow’s game.
Afterwards, the student-athletes pile their plates high with food from an abundant buffet. The Battle House Hotel kitchen has been humming with preparation in anticipation of the South Alabama crew’s arrival, whipping up large portions for the hungry team of athletes and their coaches. Whatever amount of food that you might imagine to be enough to feed a college football team, plus staff, the chefs will tell you to make more. In a typical meal, players enjoy prime rib, grilled chicken, pasta, broccoli, potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and more that the from-scratch kitchen has prepared. The menu is kept relatively standard each night before a home game; even a little change from the routine can cause issues this close to kickoff. A healthy mix of complex carbs and lean proteins is a dinnertime staple, with the menu straying away from anything that might be too heavy or fatty before the game in order to keep the athletes well fed and in peak condition.
The players load up their plates for the first time — there will more than likely be a return to the line for most of the team at some point during the meal — and return to their places at the table, each one supplied with a large electrolyte drink. Besides getting in the necessary nutrients, players use this meal as an important, team-building opportunity to talk, eat and bond in a relaxed setting, helping ease any existing pregame nerves.
The rest of the night after dinner is spent mingling and resting. The breakout rooms provide several different opportunities for stress-free recreation. In a few of the rooms, players gather to watch movies. In another room, a board game is in progress. This time gives them a much-needed mental and physical break from the game-day preparation and more time to spend with each other. After all, a team with a close relationship on and off the field creates results that show up on game day.
Among the traditions of Friday night is a special time called “Family Friday.” For players who have family in town for the game, this time allows them to spend a couple of hours with their loved ones. It’s another important element to student-athlete wellbeing. A late-night snack — usually an ice cream bar — is served before the 9:30 p.m. curfew as the players head up to their rooms. With all the prep and practice, it’s easy to forget that the South Alabama football team, a talented and disciplined group, is still made up of college guys, some still in their teens. And, as a general rule, most college students’ Friday night plans rarely involve eating a nutritious meal and getting to bed at a decent hour. Athletic staffs across the country know this, and a hotel stay makes sure all the student-athletes are taken care of and accounted for.
In the morning, staff and players cycle through a breakfast buffet and down more electrolytes after they wake up. The tone of today is more serious than last night as the team has walkthrough, typically held at the Mobile Convention Center. Everyone is mentally preparing for the hours ahead. After the walkthrough, players go up to their rooms to spend time off their feet, a habit that is emphasized throughout the stay, and take a nap. A team meeting at the hotel is soon to follow. If a morning game is on the schedule, the buses wait outside, accompanied by a police escort, and the South Alabama football department loads up. If the game is in the afternoon, lunch is served and there may be one last pregame meal for a night game before the team and staff head to the University of South Alabama campus.
Thus begins the rest of the day’s routine. More prep comes upon arrival to campus and inside the locker room. Here, the roar of the crowd is dampened by thick walls. Here, getting your head in the game is obvious. It’s expected. But a more subtle — but no less important — checkpoint on the road to game day happened at check-in. The Battle House Hotel was the locker room before the locker room ahead of the Jags playing a Mobile football game.
