Cheerleading is seen at football and basketball games interacting with the audience and helping support the team through vocal encouragement, providing entertainment for all. But most do not know that the cheerleaders are a part of a club on campus that has brought back its own competition events through the sport.
“Club cheerleading accepts all skill levels while providing a lot of opportunities for campus involvement, while having a good and fun environment,” co-coach of UW-W Cheer and Stunt Baylie Sutton said.
The club is separated into three different groups. Purple team is the team that wears a purple uniform and can often be seen at football games, both home and away, and men’s basketball. The white team wears a white uniform and is seen at home football games and away women’s basketball games. The Purple and White team wears both purple and white colored uniforms and is either a fill-in for the other teams or is seen at wheelchair basketball games.
“My favorite place to cheer is during the football season, it provides a great atmosphere where it is both hype and fun,” Sutton said.
Sutton joined the club because she wanted to continue her cheer experience from high school. Looking into the program, she knew this was the club she could see herself being involved in. As a coach, she is hoping to grow the program and improve it for underclassmen.
The other co-coach, Rylee Copenharve, had nearly-identical things to say about the organization.
“Club cheerleading is an engaging community that is full of opportunities with a sense of love for the sport and a drive to improve for the future and for kids watching,” Copenharve said.
She has been active in the sport ever since kindergarten and continued that passion throughout high school, and eventually into the cheerleading club on campus.
“It’s a nice atmosphere to get away from academics, and it’s a space in which I can be myself,” Copenharve said. “As a senior this year, I hope to push the club outside of boundaries, and it’s sad for this year to be my last as I have so much fun with the team.”
Her main goal for club cheerleading is just to get the name out there. Many people often associate cheerleading with sideline work at games, but there’s a lot of unseen choreography and constant practicing that goes into their preparation.
“We have tried to put club cheerleading on the rec sports list, but the process is very long and tedious for only two people to handle,” Copenharve said.
Though the club is still hoping to achieve that goal in the future, they are aiming to bring back the competition. After four years of being “inactive” in regards to competitions, the club is reentering that field this year and will soon compete at the state level.
“We are hoping to bring back the trophy to show off the club’s achievement and to let others know that cheerleading is competing,” Copenharve said.
