In many cases, cheerleaders are portrayed as blonde and bratty people who don’t do much in terms of athleticism, but the members of NIC’s cheer team show that this stereotype is far from true. With practicing three or more days a week, in addition to cheering games, school, work and other activities, the athletes must maintain a balanced lifestyle to keep up on everything.
NIC cheerleader Klarissa Leal said “I pictured it more like ‘Bring It On,’ but it is a lot more hard work than many people believe.”
When it comes to being a cheerleader, Bethany Sutter, majoring in social work, said she believes it all starts outside of practice.
“[It’s] a lot of stretching, making sure you’re eating right, making sure you’re getting enough sleep even if that means not hanging out with your friends like you want to,” Sutter said.
Hayley Kaiser and Evan Darley perform a partner stunt while at practice.
She also advocates the need for working on skills on and off the mat to maintain and advance your position,
“Going to open gyms and hitting on skills you want to hit that you aren’t getting enough time at practice for. So it really takes a lot of working out outside of class. You have to make sure that you’re constantly being conscientious of your everyday tasks and making sure that they’re all going to lead you towards success,” Sutter said.
Evan Darley, majoring in architecture, said he believes people need to have the right mindset to be a cheerleader.
“You have to have no distractions and find yourself first.”
Many skills go into being a part of a cheer team Darley said, including fulls, roundoffs back handspring fulls, toe fulls, different stunts along with many others. Although it can be difficult for some to attain these skills, Darley explained that he has already gotten all the tumbling and stunts he’s required to have for the team’s routine at the Collegiate Championships.
In March, the team has a chance of going to the United Cheer Association’s Collegiate Championships in Anaheim, California.
“I’ve never even seen a cheer competition so this is my first time being in any form of routine,” Darley said.
He showed his excitement mentioning that it’s his first year cheering and second time going to California.
Joy Davis flies a lib while practicing the routine for Collegiate Championships.
Sutter said, “They’ll be a ton of other teams there and we’ll be competing against other Junior Colleges so it’s not just something small, it’s a massive event. We have a lot of stunts and tumbling that we’ll be working on conquering in the next few weeks.”
Both Sutter and Leal shared their feeling toward the team saying that it has become more like a family over the season. “They’re all genuine people. I could go to anyone of them,” Leal said.