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Athletes or Not? You Decide!
Story and photos by Lupe Herrera
Three times a week or more, 18 Mars Hill students run a mile together.
They do pushups and crunches and follow with stretching.
Three times a week or more they practice together for four hours non-stop.
They meet in the weight room to lift weights. At the end of each week they pull together for a full afternoon of grueling work, no matter the weather, rain, shine or freezing temperatures.
These are the Mars Hill College Cheerleaders for 2004-2005.
" Cheerleading is hard work and dedication, along with teamwork and fun," says returning male cheerleader Derrick Everhart.
When people see cheerleaders, they rarely think of them as hard-core athletes. They think of little girls in tiny skirts jumping around and yelling. Is that really what cheerleading is all about? Not at MHC.
With a bigger team this year compared to last year, the cheerleaders are doing twice as many flips, jumps and stunts. Every Saturday they stand on the sidelines during football and basketball games, cheering, jumping, dancing and stunting, no matter what the circumstances.
" As long as the team is playing, we are cheering," says Jamie Buckner, one of the five returning girls on the squad.
These cheerleaders work hard during the week to deliver a four-hour performance at Saturday afternoon football games and basketball games in the spring.
"We work really hard during the week, and people don't realize how much work it really takes to be a cheerleader," says Senior Captain Heather Debty.
One of the things they have to do is work out during the week.
Their workout plan includes cardiovascular exercise such as riding fitness bikes or walking the treadmills.
They work their arms and abs by using the various machines in the Taylor Fitness Center. Their workouts also include pushups, crunches, and running.
Many spend their own money on tumbling lessons in Asheville once a week. This gives them the opportunity to get professional help.
The squad also meets about three times a week to go over dances, motions and stunts.
The dances must be tight and sharp.
The stunts are what probably take the most effort.
The cheerleaders build pyramids such as the "table top," which consists of two girls standing on two guys and holding one girl over them.
Another stunt is called the "high split." This one has two girls holding another girl in a split in midair.
There are an unlimited number of partner stunts. Guys and girls form what they call chairs, tosses, and shoulder stands.
And like any other team, to succeed you have to get along.
" I love how together we are as a team," says male cheerleader John Hoilman. "You have to trust each other and work as one, and not as individuals. We are part of a team."
So, is cheerleading a sport or not?
Here at Mars Hill it isn't.
They are not athletes or an organization.
So why work so hard if people don't acknowledge it?
Freshman cheerleader Candice Williams says " I don't like how we work so hard and we are not recognized, but it's the love that we have for it that keeps us moving. People do not see how much time we spend perfecting things just like any other sport."
The cheerleaders are trying to move past the fact that they are not considered a sport and are continuing to do what they love.
On page 33 of the student handbook cheerleaders are labeled a special interest group. They are not athletes and they don't have to report to the athletic director.
"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance."
From the preamble to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972
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Mars Hill College Athletic Director David Riggins says, " NCAA does not allow you to count cheerleading as a sport. If they allowed that to happen, people would use cheerleading to replace female sports under Title IX."
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1974 requires gender equity in sports.
One thing that has changed is that cheerleaders now have a voice on the Student Athlete Committee. That allows them to speak out on what they want to see happen.
" Other sports realize the hard work we do, and they agree that we deserve recognition," says returning cheerleader Brittany Fox. She attends the Student Athlete Committee and reports back to the squad.
So, is all he hard work the cheerleaders do enough to convince you that they have what it takes to be considered athletes? Maybe it is, and maybe it isn't.
" But one thing is for sure," says Candice Williams, "not being labeled as athletes won't stop us from working as hard as we do."
Hilltop reporter Lupe Herrera is a member of the cheerleading team.
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