And if they do have them, are they still called that, or just rallies, or something else?
I’m writing a story, set in the U.S. in the present day, and the characters discuss something that happened at a pep rally (or whatever they’re called now) a few days before. The characters are members of a basketball team that’s about to play for the state championship.
Mu grandson plays trumpet at his HS in what is called the “Pep band” which plays, I assume, at pep rallies. He just chose his college, rejecting one for, among other reasons, not having a pep band (or intercollegiate athletics, AFAIK.
Did they ever? 
J/k but as far as I know pep rallies as such - an in school assembly where you’re supposed to cheer for the football team for some reason - only ever existed in certain times and places.
Mine did, and I graduated 5 years ago. I’d be surprised if they discontinued it since then. They usually had them during the school day, in the last period. They went to great lengths to get us to show up, but at least half the kids would regularly ditch especially if it was for one of the less popular sports. I think I went to one for football once, but they had it earlier in the day because they were sick of nobody going.
Had them when I was in high school in the early '80’s.
Yep, and they still schedule them for maximum disruption of my class schedule, too.
At my school, we generally run a special “rally” schedule based on what teacher you have 3rd period. One group goes to the “A” rally, the other goes to the “B” rally (big school, small gym.) Each one has a theme: Fall sports, Winter sports, Spring sports, Performing Arts, etc. Just something to make Student Council feel important.
In the South, every sufficiently large high school will have a weekly pep rally for the football team. In my hometown, we’d also have them for our Jr High team. And they were more or less mandatory. And here in suburban Houston, certainly all the high schools still have pep rallies.
If our basketball team advanced through the state tournament, we’d almost certainly have had one for them, too.
It’s rather unlikely it’d be more than 1 day ahead of time if that, unless there was a particularly good reason for it.
My kid’s high school has them.
When I was in high school in the mid 00s we had 3 a year: Fall Sports, Winter Sports, Spring Sports. I hated them because it was shit ton of work for Student Council and if we made them fun for students, parents hated us and if we made them acceptable for parents, students hated us.
And the band is too goddamn loud. Nothing like 45 minutes of ringing ears.
Googling my high school name and “pep rally” on YouTube indicates they are alive and well in the Chicagoland area, at least. We certainly had them when I was a student in the early 90s. Mostly football, but not always.
My high school (San Diego, late '90s) had one a year, but I don’t recall them being called pep rallies. I don’t recall the specific term - “spirit assembly” or something along that line, probably.
I found them majorly boring.
“We’re from [school name], couldn’t be prouder.
If you can’t hear us, we’ll yell a little louder!”
God, I hated pep rallies.
Meh. I thought they were a fun respite from class.
The only fond memory I have is of mocking the 7th graders who messed up the year chant by yelling “Zero! Ten!”.
High school bands have 2 volumes, rest, and blastissimo grossando.
Says the guy who didn’t have to spend an hour and a half sitting in the San Diego sun in the middle of September.
I’m not fan of sun, but I’ll take it. I hated being in class.
Mine had them. My kids’ school still does, although not every week, afaik. Ours were either every week, or it seemed so. Certainly not just once a year/season.
Yeah, ours weren’t near that often, either. I’d say maybe 3 times a year.
Texas. We have them. But they are always the day of the big game: the whole point is to get the crowd hyped up to go, go, go out to the game. We have maybe three in the fall (with Homecoming getting the most elaborate one) and one in the spring for “spring sports”. If we make it to an advanced level of playoffs, we’d have an extra.
Pep rallies, and homecoming, are really fun things to try to explain to recent immigrants, or exchange students. I always tell the exchange students it’s one of the most “American” things they will see.