Photo provided by the MCLA Cheer Squad. The Squad poses with the MCLA Trailblazer mascot. While the club has been SGA-affiliated for about three years, they hope to become an officially-recognized cheer team through MCLA Athletics.
Stop by an MCLA basketball game, and chances are you will witness a routine put on by the hard working ladies of the MCLA Cheer Squad.
“I was there from the beginning I can say this has been a great and fun experience just seeing how the club has changed in the past few years,” Cheer Squad President Sasha Bain said. While the Cheer Squad is not officially recognized by MCLA Athletics, it is an SGA-affiliated club, approaching its three year anniversary of having its constitution ratified. “To see the number of members has grown and achieving one of our biggest goals to find a cheer coach just makes all the hardship a little better. I am just proud of all our hard work.”
The Cheer Squad currently has 13 members, and is looking to expand. Their goal is to become an official cheerleading team, according to Bain. The club holds mandatory 2 hour practices three times a week, to make sure that everyone is on the same page, and to make sure their routines go off without a hitch.
“We usually are preparing cheers to perfection to be game day ready,” Bain said. “Also we prepare different stunts and dances for halftime routines. Currently we are building our team strength, so that we are stronger than ever next semester.”
Bain has been president of the club for 2 years, and is expected to graduate after this year. She was on the squad’s E-Board even before it was an official club, which helped her rise to the rank of president.
“I just spoke from the heart about the goals and changes I had in mind to make this club great again,” she said. There have been many previous iterations of a cheerleading team at MCLA, so when the club was approved by SGA in 2015, it was strictly a reactivation effort.
“Last year, we talked over the idea of re-opening the club because we just felt like MCLA was lacking a little bit of school spirit at games and other functions,” Bain said in 2015 in a Beacon article upon the club’s reactivation. She was the vice president at the time. “We just believed that cheer club would be the perfect [opportunity] to bring that liveliness back into MCLA.”
Cheer Squad’s biggest hit this semester came during Midnight Madness, a yearly event at MCLA that allowed them to showcase their hard work through their routines. And the club is working with a coach, as mentioned, who will help them progress into an official collegiate team, as the club has faced many challenges because they lack that distinction.
“Without that support its makes it more difficult to get the aid we need and funding,” Bain said. “Not saying that as a club we need special treatment because everyone gets funding the same way, but it would be more helpful for us [cheerleaders] to just get the same support as regular recognized MCLA teams.”
Though that distinction isn’t everything, as Bain explains.
“As a member of this squad it is the most important for us to let everyone know that even though we fly under the radar that It doesn’t me we are not working our butts off,” she said. “We want everyone to take us seriously even without the recognition from Athletics. Hopefully with the support of our school community we can eventually make our way up there.”
Next semester, the club plans to cheer for both the men and women’s basketball teams, something Bain is looking forward to.
“The support from our school community to come out and support not only us but the teams as well we be amazing,” she said. “Also you will be [able to see] a few new tricks that we have up our sleeves, so make sure you keep a look out for us!”