Football Heads West: A New Chapter in Tabor’s Travel Tradition

This coming fall, while most independent school football teams across New England are wrapping up their home games under stadium lights and changing leaves, Tabor's varsity will take the field three thousand miles from home. Their opponent is Oak Ridge High School outside Sacramento, California, one of the strongest programs the West Coast has to offer.

This exciting, donor-funded opportunity takes place October 7-10, 2026. The football team will leave campus after classes on Wednesday, October 7, fly across the country, and spend Thursday visiting the University of California, Berkeley, where players will get a close-up look at one of the country's leading research universities. Friday night brings the game itself—kickoff is 7:00 PM Pacific time, 10:00 PM for fans watching back in Marion. The team flies home Saturday morning. 

For Head Football Coach Jeff Moore, the California game has been years in the making.

"This is a once-in-a-career experience for our players," Moore said. "Playing a top California program, visiting Cal Berkeley along the way, competing under Friday night lights three thousand miles from home—they've worked to get this program to a place where a game like this is possible. I'm excited for what it will mean for them, on the field and off."

A School Going Somewhere

Tabor has a tradition of travel, since the early 1900s. Headmaster Walter Lillard launched the international program in 1919, in the years after World War I, with a conviction that direct experience of other cultures was the surest path to peace. That first group of students sailed to France that summer, and the same idea still describes Tabor’s view of travel today—one not of tourism but immersion and experience. 

Student athletes, specifically, have been traveling for nearly a century to compete at the highest levels of their sports. The rowing program first headed to England in 1931. Tabor rowers have periodically raced at the Henley Royal Regatta ever since, winning the Thames Challenge Cup in 1936, 1937, and 1939, and the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup in 1965.

That tradition extends to other teams, as well. Tabor's sailing program has competed at numerous national and international sites, including the British Schools Team Racing Championships in Cowes against teams from Ireland, China, and host nation England. Recently, they took home the Founder’s Trophy as the top international team. Both boys' and girls' squash teams travel annually to U.S. High School Nationals near Philadelphia. 

And aboard SSV Tabor Boy, students continue to take multi-day sailing voyages that have long given School by the Sea® its meaning. This summer, the student crew will venture to Bermuda, New York, and Connecticut. Athletes often take part in team spring break training trips throughout the nation, and most recently, the varsity boys lacrosse team traveled to Maryland for a top-level playing opportunity. 

The travel tradition also extends to other facets of life at Tabor. The theater program has run a regular spring break trip to England, and over 150 Tabor students each year join the school's broader global travel program, on language exchanges, service trips, and research expeditions across multiple continents.

For Head of School Tony Jaccaci, this next trip with the football team is a signal of something larger.

"At Tabor, we've always sent our students out beyond campus—to compete, to study, to serve," Jaccaci says. "The football team's California trip is the newest chapter in that story. As we look beyond our 150th year, we're actively exploring ways to extend opportunities like this to more programs and more athletes across our community." 

Travel programs, like the California trip, are often made possible through generous philanthropic support, and Tabor's leadership is actively working to bring similar experiences to more students—from athletics to arts and beyond. “We want as many of our students as possible to travel, both nationally and internationally, for exciting and enriching opportunities,” says Jaccaci. When it comes to furthering athletic competitions specifically, he adds, “We expect to offer more teams similar experiences in the near future.”

A football trip to California is just the next step. The larger story is what travel at Tabor will continue to be—a tradition of not only experience, friendly competition, and cultural immersion, but also, going somewhere.

Anyone interested in supporting travel opportunities—for athletics or other areas of school life—can contact Stephen Ginter, Director of Advancement, at 508-291-8568.