Mónica Amaro shared a video of a high school football team coming out to support their marching band

• Monica Amaro was at a marching band competition in Texas to support her daughter when she noticed something unusual.

• His daughter’s rival football team showed up together, in uniform, to watch the band.

• Amaro, “a guy in the band,” tells PEOPLE he knows “the meaning of this and how weird it was to see.”

the stands of high school footballGames are usually filled with fans and families of the players, as well as the school’s marching band and cheerleaders. But what you rarely see is the football team showing up to cheer on the marching band.

TikTok user Monica Amaro shared an example of a local soccer team doing just that. While attending the UIL Texas Regional Marching Band Competition in Abilene, Texas, he noticed a group of football players, all dressed in their team’s jerseys, showing up to support the Texas marching band. the school.

“Since I was also a member of a band, I knew the meaning of this and how strange it was to see,” Amaro shares with PEOPLE.

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Amaro was attending the competition to support her daughter’s marching band, although it was not her daughter’s high school soccer team that showed up, but rather that of her rivals. According to her, the Roscoe High School football team has come out to support the marching band in its competitions for about six years.

“I competed in many competitions in my time and was even state marching band champion,” Amaro adds, “and I had never seen this.”

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Jake Freeman, head football coach and athletic director at Roscoe High School, was a member of the marching band and football team while attending the high school where he now works. Speaking to PEOPLE, he says this was incredibly common when he was in high school in 1992, as “the band wasn’t just a side act.”

“He was respected, celebrated and appreciated. Like football, band required commitment, hours of practice and intense concentration,” he says. “I put as much heart into band practice as I did on the field, and that feeling of community support, of being valued, was something I felt in my heart.”

Freeman says he’s been bringing the football team to support the band at their competitions for five years, “because without the band, Friday nights just aren’t the same.”

“Their music and energy light up the entire atmosphere: they support us and it is only fair that we support them too,” he continues.

“It’s more than just showing up: it’s about teaching my players to value what the band does, to recognize the blood, sweat and practice they put into their craft. I want my team to see discipline, teamwork and dedication. They understand that the band is as essential to our spirit as any work we do.”

Amaro praised the Roscoe High School football team, saying, “The entire football team showed up, sat in the stands and cheered for their band. It moved me and I knew it would touch others.”

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“Going through the comments, it’s clear that this is weird and it honestly healed something in the hearts of these former band guys (the commenters), who thought they’d never see something like this,” Amaro continues about the reach of his TikTok. “This says a lot about this school and its pride, its community and its support of each other.”

“It’s bigger than football. I’m trying to raise young people who understand respect, who know the power of a positive word, who see what encouragement can do, not only for a teammate but also for the band members who are there working hard with them. ”. Freeman says. “I still remember what it was like to hear my friends in the stands shouting my name, feeling their support when I needed it most. “I want all students to feel the same sense of support.”