A Day in the Life of an Iowa Western Cheerleader
Cheer Blog
October 5 at 2:30pm, the Iowa Western homecoming football game kicked off. For the cheerleading team, however, the homecoming shenanigans began much earlier.
Weeks before gameday, the Reiver cheerleading team was hard at work choreographing and perfecting a halftime routine. Practices started each day with an open time slot to work on individual skills needing improvement before the performance. After some free work time, both small and large coed worked together with one common goal: making this the best halftime performance IW has ever seen!
The Thursday before homecoming, Iowa Western threw a block party in anticipation of Saturday's game. The whole cheer team gathered with students and faculty, enjoying the food provided, games set up, and even gave athletic director Jeremy Capo a splash in the dunk tank. After some fun and socializing, the team set up in the grass for a small performance filled with the fight song, stunts, cheers, and smiles spread wide on the faces of the audience.
Saturday morning had come around at last. The morning rain clouds parted and let sunshine gleam down in time for the cheerleader tailgate. After a quick run through and a delicious boxed meal, courtesy of Hy-Vee, it was time to start rallying the fans for a fantastic game! The fight song, stunts, cheers, and band dances were performed in the parking lot the tailgate was held, rather than in the grass as normal due to the rain muddying up the open grass section. Leading a march into the stadium, the pregame show was about to begin. The marching band and cheerleading team took to the field, preparing the crowd to welcome out mascot Rocky the Reiver and the football team. Flags spelling out R-E-I-V-E-R-S flew through the sky, the band blasted the fight song while the lyrics were sung proudly. The hype throughout the stadium was electrifying. Girls rocketed into the sky, standing on the hands and shoulders of their teammates, while a loud roar sounded in anticipation of the first kick. Cleat met ball, "GO BIG BLUE", and the game was underway.
Halftime rolled around and spirits were high as the Reivers took lead over the Panthers. Sophomore Andre Johnson led the breakout in preparation of the halftime routine, urging the team to yell "family" on the count of three. "Family" was the perfect word to breakout on – as a family they took the field and as a family they walked off. The routine wasn't perfect. There were wobbles, bobbles, drops, and falls as expected so early in the season, but the routine was nothing shy of magnificent. Every individual out there worked as a whole, every heart was in it for the team. My personal favorite technical section of the routine was the three pyramids that landed so smoothly, sticking proud and tall in the air. But, of course, technical skill doesn't always beat out pure fun, and the dancing of cheerleaders alongside Rocky was just the pure fun families in the stands were looking for. A sweet cherry to top off a wonderful routine. The formations were unique, transitions clean, and all around a crowd-pleasing show.
Homecoming for a cheerleader is a lot of preparation work, most of which goes unnoticed. Hours of work are spent for only a few minutes to show. But when you love what you do as much as our Reivers do, none of that matters. The hours of "work" turn into memories with your best friends, new experiences, and endless fun. That shows in a performance, and it showed at homecoming. I may be a little biased, but I am so proud of this team and can't wait to see all that we accomplish this season.