Story by Courtney Van Haaften | Sports Co-Editor
Multimedia by Chelsey Goetz | Multimedia Co-Editor
Balancing teammates, learning stunts, practicing lifts, memorizing cheers, and the list continues as we take a glimpse into the life of a Buena Vista University cheerleader. Junior digital media major, Krystal Schulte, and the new head cheerleading coach, Whitney Dickinson, describe what the BVU cheerleaders have been doing this fall season to prepare for games and future competitions.
The Buena Vista University (BVU) cheerleading squad is always lively and energetic during Beaver athletic events, but most people don’t realize all the work they put in, in order to perform to their best abilities at each performance.
The current squad is made up of 16 girls, and their head coach is Whitney Dickinson. They also have occasional help from Ashley Farmer-Hanson. The cheerleading squad usually practices 2-3 times a week, with each participant also working out on her own a few times a week. A typical practice consists of talking about what they need to work on from the game before, stretching, jumps, cheers, and stunts.
“The best part about being a cheerleader is working hard while being able to hang out with your closest friends, and then being able to show our hard work at football and basketball games while supporting our team,” sophomore cheerleader Taylor Kavaya said.
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Being able to do stunts is a big part of being on a cheerleading squad. A good majority of their practice time is committed to working on stunts. Many cheerleaders find it extremely rewarding when they pull off a good stunt, especially because the crowds really enjoy it.
“I think the best part about being a cheerleader are the friendships that you make on the team and how we support each other through everything. I also really enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when we hit a really hard stunt during practice. Our squad is really great about encouraging each other which makes practice so much fun,” junior cheerleader Krystal Schulte said.
Cheerleading can also be dangerous. The risks involved with stunting are very high, and cheerleaders often get hurt. Recently, Kavaya was hit under her eye while catching a flyer during a stunt. This caused a trip to the emergency room, a cut, swollen face, and a black eye that lasted around a week. Although she was hurt in the process, she still had the mentality of a great teammate.
“All that matters as a back or base is that your flyer doesn’t get hurt!” Kavaya said.
Aside from performing at home athletic events, the cheerleaders also do forms of community outreach. They put on different clinics for young cheerleaders in the community. In the fall, they teach young campers simple cheers and allow them to perform with them at halftime of a football game. This year, they are also plan on doing a workshop in the winter for a basketball game. High school squads in the area come to them to learn new cheers and simple stunts to perform for their own schools, too.
The next time the Beaver cheerleaders are out cheering and promoting school spirit is at the next home football game, which is Saturday, Oct. 26 at 1 p.m. against Loras College.
“I always keep in mind that we are a team and that everything I do not only affects me, but the squad. I also think about what coach tells us before every game which is ‘everything is a motion, be sharp, be clean, smile have fun and be loud’,” Schulte said.
Photos courtesy of Gwen Walton
