This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Bucknell chapter.
If you haven’t been to a Bucknell football game this season, you have missed out! No, not on a thrilling, undefeated season of Bison football, but on an exciting new addition to the cheerleading team: two (seriously good-looking) male cheerleaders! Yes, it’s true, cheerleading has become a major spectator sport for the women of Bucknell. Cleveland Cunningham and Kyle Shrivastava have been working hard with the team this year on tumbling, showing off their considerable varsity-weight-room-forged muscles by lifting their female teammates up in the air, and getting the hang of yelling through huge megaphones. They will be continuing their cheerleading careers at basketball games and wrestling matches this winter so make sure to come to a sporting event and check out the guys! (Oh, and the game too…there will be a game going on in the background…) Here, for your reading pleasure, Her Campus gets up close and personal with Kyle Shrivastava about everything from cheerleading to parkour to…classical violin? Yes indeed, there is more than meets the eye when it comes to Bucknell’s very first Canadian male cheerleader.
Hometown: Montreal, QC
Major: Management
What made you want to join the cheerleading team?
We [Cleveland and I] used to do parkour, and when our club was shut down we were looking for a new sport where we could continue doing acrobatic related activities. One day we were in the back of the gym doing flips, and Coach Megan Lindner came up to us and asked us to join the team.
*Not sure what parkour is? Neither was I. Check out the American Parkour website for a written explanation: http://www.americanparkour.com/whatisparkour and videos: http://www.americanparkour.com/inspire/videos
What is your favorite part of being on the team?
Working with all the other cheerleaders and stunting.
What have you accomplished this season that you are most proud of?
Round-off back handsprings and extensions.
Do you have any goals for the rest of the season?
I just plan on working as hard as possible, and we’ll see what comes out of it.
How does your parkour background help you in learning new cheerleading skills?
It gives me a lot of confidence, and encourages me to try new things. Parkour is all about overcoming fear, and it taught me that generally 90% of what’s holding you back when it comes to tumbling and stunting isn’t strength, its fear.
Favorites:
Class you have taken – Cultural Anthropology
Freez flavor – Cookie Dough
Activity besides cheerleading – Guitar
Movie – Pulp Fiction
Fun Facts:
I speak French fluently.