After joining his high school’s cheer team in senior year, Parker Apple would soon be set on a path for highflying stardom. Parker is a sophomore at Florida State University (FSU) who, if you asked him three years ago what he would be doing in college, he would have never said cheerleading. “The end of my junior year, some of the girls approached me and said, ‘We want to go coed next year, have you ever thought about trying [cheer]?’” Parker explained. He started by learning a few stunts from his friends before tryouts. After making it onto his high school’s team, Parker fell in love with the sport, from pushing his physical limitations to making life-long friendships.
Parker said that when his senior year ended, he was surprised by how much he loved the sport and was sad that it was already coming to an end, so he asked himself, “Why don’t I just try out and see what happens?” On a whim, Parker tried out for Florida State Cheerleading. Due to the pandemic, tryouts were virtual. According to Parker, the cheerleaders submitted “stunting videos, cheers, fan chants and dances for over three rounds.”
Entering his freshman year at FSU, Parker was faced with being a representative for one of the country’s most prominent universities. He saw that the skills he is learning with FSU Cheerleading are much more advanced than those practiced in high school. He has felt a lot of pressure as a representative of FSU sports, but he has not let it get the best of him.
Upon joining the team, Parker became one of ten men on the FSU Cheerleading team. Even as acceptance for men in cheerleading has grown in recent years, the reception has not always been easy for Parker. However, he has been quick to turn away the haters. He said that “it’s empowering for me because I embrace it. I try not to care what other people think about me,” and “as long as I’m happy and doing what I love, I really could not care less about what people have to say about me.” Not only has Parker been able to uphold himself in the sport, but he has had great support from friends and family. With friends and family in the stands and on the field, Parker has felt “so welcomed and loved.”
Nevertheless, he has found that his biggest enemy in the sport is not others but himself. Parker “felt down when I wasn’t doing as well as other people, but obviously, I wouldn’t because I hadn’t been doing it for long enough.” Using encouragement from friends and family, Parker was able to face his fears by “keeping an open mind” and knowing that “just trying your best will take you far.”
As the current college football season, one of the most significant times of year for college cheer, heats up, the team has gone full throttle into preparation and practice. There are three main parts to preparing the team for a performance: “prepare stunt sequences, pyramids and we set formations and lines for stunt groups and partners.” With each practice, the team polishes their skills as well as brings out more elite moves.
If anyone is interested in cheer, Parker has one piece of advice: “Do it. Just do it. Honestly, if you’re nervous about trying it, I would say you should try your best to push that to the side and just try it. You don’t know how it’s going to work out.” Reflecting on his own experience, Apple did not see himself on this track just a few years ago. But, he says that anything is possible if you put in the work and are open to not being the best at first.
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