You’ve seen the hashtags. They show up on Twitter and Instagram, team T-shirts and written on gymnasts’ hands. But what on earth to they mean? We’re so often left in the dark until the end of season—or sometimes forever. We’ve collected the hashtags we’ve seen so far this preseason and taken our best guesses. In some cases, we know what the hashtag is intended to mean, but that’s just not as much fun. See below for those spoilers.
Minnesota: #LTB
Emily M: Let’s Train Beam! It makes no sense, but it popped into my head and I’m going with it.
Rebecca: Loosen The Bars. Maybe they have a tall team this year.
Emily HF: Lexy The Beast! …Sorry but tell me it’s not true? (The rest of the team is awesome too.)
Elizabeth: Ladies Tumble Better. Sorry, guys.
Nebraska: #BOE
Emily M: Best of Everything? They keep using the crown emoji too, so it must be something royal.
Rebecca: Brigade of Elephants. Elephants are pack animals, so it’s a reference to the Huskers’ team bond.
Emily HF: Beauty of Execution. Shrug. They’re pretty. It works.
Elizabeth: Bring on Elegance. Going with that royal theme here.
Lindenwood: #EARN
Emily M: These ones that are real words are hard for me. Every Athlete Reaches North. Like reaching up. Shh it makes sense.
Rebecca: This isn’t an abbreviation, they’re just capitalizing it to mess with us.
Emily HF: Early and Ready Ninjas. Lindenwood is queen of the ninja recruits so…
Elizabeth: Everyone Always Reacts Naturally. I don’t even know…
Oklahoma: #pztsf
Emily M: Well, “pz” has to be preseason, no? Preseason Takes Strong Focus. “Pztsf” sounds like a sneeze when I try to say it phonetically.
Rebecca: Pervasive Zealotry Transforms Silent Fanaticism. Hey man, Oklahoma team culture seems intense.
Emily HF: Preparation Zaps the Starting Fails. No idea… But I did snort when I read Emily M’s, and it definitely sounded like “Pztsf”
Elizabeth: Preseason Zebras Turn Season Falcons. Let’s see you try to some up with something with a legit Z.
Penn State: #RTR
Emily M: Road to Redemption. That sounds real.
Rebecca: Read the Team Rules. It’s a strange time, we don’t need to be suspending anyone unnecessarily this year.
Emily HF: Roars That Reverberate. I just thought of Reverberate and wanted to use it.
Elizabeth: Roll Tide Roll. It was the very first thing I thought of, so I’d like to think it’s a nod to Alabama.
Utah State: #BTB
Emily M: Back to Better. It’s just the kind of word jumble these things usually turn out to be, right.
Rebecca: Bring the Blue, since we’re going for charming nonsense on this one.
Emily HF: Back to Basics. That sounds like it could be a thing.
Elizabeth: Better Than Best. Because we’re not just striving to be the best here.
Oregon State: #BPID
Emily M: Bring Passion, Inspiration, Drive. Just throwing out those catchwords now.
Rebecca: Brown Puppies Invite Development. That’s what I would do if I were a college coach.
Emily HF: Be Perfect in Details. Got to get those sticks.
Elizabeth: Blood Pressure Is Decisive. For fans, they probably want that blood pressure to stay low, calm, no drama.
Maryland: #FTT
Emily M: Forward Together Team. Ooop that one is silly.
Rebecca: I have to a do a serious one now, don’t I. Um, Finding Tranquility Together I guess.
Emily HF: Featuring Triwizard Tournament. Bet you didn’t know Maryland was really Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry did you?
Elizabeth: Full-Twisting Tsuks. Don’t pretend you wouldn’t be into a full lineups of non-Yurchenkos.
Eastern Michigan: #routE19
Emily M: I’m pretty sure the capital E and ‘19 make this one pretty clear, but let’s pretend ROUTE stands for something: Ride Out Under EMU. Shoot, “U’ is hard!
Rebecca: Different direction here—what if the E stands for Eagles and they’re going to be routing their opponents?
Emily HF: Reach Our Unique Top Excellence in 2019? Because every team’s goals are different?.
Elizabeth: Real Opponents Under Team Energy. Like, forget them our energy is the most important?
Ball State: #REACH
Emily M: Regain Every Action Change High?! Word soup, maybe this one really just does mean reach.
Rebecca: Rad Energy And Charming Hats. I don’t know at this point.
Emily HF: Red Eagles Are Cheering Hard. Cheering for teams is important, why shouldn’t nonexistent eagles do it too?
Elizabeth: Read, Everyone Achieves Championship Heights. Because we’re shooting for that ship, always.
Gustavus Adolphus: #ttp
Emily M: Together to Podium. Like the medal podium?
Rebecca: Teaching Toddlers Piano. Aww, volunteer work is so important.
Emily HF: To the Prince. Hey, we all have our own life goals.
Elizabeth: Time to Pounce. Pretty self-explanatory, that one.
Pittsburgh: #NOW
Emily M: What could a “W” be?! Hmm. Now Our Win.
Rebecca: Negativity Out the Window. Happy only.
Emily HF: Never Only Whips. Back handsprings are good too.
Elizabeth: No Other Way. I actually kind of like that. Feel free to use, Pittsburgh.
North Carolina: #asONE
Emily M: The ONE bit could be Our New Excellence.
Rebecca: Overcoming Nervous Energy. Essential for athletes.
Emily HF: Achieve Success Over Next Evening. Shoot. It was going so well and then I had to figure out N and E.
Elizabeth: As One New Experience. Like experiencing the new postseason format by making regionals.
If you want to be boring and know some real meanings, Minnesota is carrying Love the Battle into 2019, Maryland’s means Fear the Turtle, Penn State is going to Restore the Roar and Gustavus is Trust the Process.
Article by Rebecca Scally, Emily Howell-Forbes, Elizabeth Grimsley and Emily Minehart
