The UW-Platteville basketball teams have more than just cheerleaders to pump them up at games. The popular student group, O-zone, also shows support. O-zone attends UW-P basketball games to create an intense environment filled with pride and team spirit.

O-zone was created to resemble a group of students during the Bo Ryan era, who were creatively named the “bleacher creatures,” said Matt Galusha, senior instrumental music education and music business major and vice president of O-zone. The major goal of the O-zone is to create a better backing for UW-P sports teams. The group originally started at men’s basketball games, and has since branched out to the women’s games.

“In the future we hope to have the O-zone at more sporting events other than basketball,” Galusha said.

There is not a definite number of members in O-zone, but there are 102 students and staff registered on the student organizations site, UWPLink, and 142 members on the O-zone Facebook page. O-zone is a group for students who may not have the time commitment needed for other student organizations and it does not take a lot of time out of your day, Galusha said.

“Being a member of O-zone is a great stress reliever. You get to yell a lot,” Allen Cordingley, UW-P pep band director, said. The members of the pep band are also members of O-zone.

“The environment that O-zone tries to create in Williams Fieldhouse is one that is not topped by many schools … because of that, Platteville is now notorious for having a rowdy crowd that will show up to cheer for their team,” Galusha said.

The O-zone tries to create some uniformity in the student section at UW-P games by selling and promoting matching O-zone T-shirts.

“I really enjoy being involved on campus and O-zone is the perfect way to show my pride [for] the UW-P Pioneers,” said Natalie Mikecz, freshman civil engineering major and member of O-zone.

For more information or to join O-zone, search “UW-P O-zone” on either Facebook or UWPLink.