School spirit is not contained to football weekends for students who directly influence the Tide’s mascot by participating in the Big Al Committee.

Members of the Big Al Committee, which was established this year, said they have one main goal in mind: to make Big Al a positive and crowd-friendly representative of the University of Alabama.

“Our goal with the Big Al Committee is to generate ideas for props and skits and put them to life,” said the committee’s president, Matt Conde, a junior majoring in journalism. “Our committee is based off the idea of teamwork, and everyone has a part in helping Big Al become a national champion like he was in 1998.”

During the next year, Big Al will compete in the Universal Cheerleaders Association’s Mascot National Championship. Mascots are chosen from colleges nationwide to compete for the title at Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

“They pick the top 10 mascots around the nation to compete, which is a big reason why the committee was formed,” said Rachel Wilson, the committee’s calendar director and a senior majoring in management.

“Judging is heavily scored off a skit that is performed during nationals week as well as a submission video,” Conde said. “The submission video highlights many aspects of Big Al’s life, from game time, crowd involvement, community service and involvement on campus.”  

Competing mascots are given 90 seconds to perform a prepared skit for the contest’s judges.

 “Big Al placed sixth last year and we hope that the committee can help improve his ranking,” said John Markle, a senior majoring in business management.

In addition to improving Big Al’s national ranking, the Big Al Committee seeks to come up with creative ways to win over the crowd at athletic games through the use of props and costumes. Many of the props are made by committee members and poke fun at the opposing team.

At the committee’s weekly meetings, “friends of Big Al” are invited to participate in brainstorming sessions for upcoming games and campus involvement. Each student’s input is taken into consideration to promote the University in a positive light.

 The driving force behind the committee is the number of dedicated students that participate. Conde said that the committee will be successful in direct relation to how many people get involved.

 “We’re always looking for more people and bright minds,” Wilson said.

“[The Big Al Committee] is a unique group that [the University] should have had years ago,” said Okha Patel, a sophomore majoring in international studies. “It’s more than just Big Al in a uniform. It’s about putting the University of Alabama on the map. Big Al has a lot to do with that, and a lot of students don’t realize that.”

The Big Al Committee meets in the Ferguson Center every Tuesday at 6 p.m. Next week’s meeting will be in Room 304, though the meeting location changes from weekly.