Junior Bianca Baker began her student cheerleading career in late sophomore year. Since then, she’s gone to become cheer captain for three seasons now- the only captain with no prior experience.
Hawks cheerleading occurs during the fall for football and the winter for basketball, giving the cheerleaders two seasons a year.
Baker began cheering in her “late sophomore year for the winter season,” and explained that she only started since “[her] friends were doing it, but I didn’t think I’d really get that far into it.” She felt a bit unsure, since she knew that she was “basic,” and “didn’t really understand how to do any cheers, stunts, and dances or anything like that.” The captain already had an understanding that most cheerleaders are “put into cheer at a young age, and are put into All Star teams,” furthering her nervousness regarding joining cheer “late into [her] life.”
However, things took an interesting turn for the cheerleader. “My first year, surprisingly, I was captain. It felt very out of nowhere to me, but I definitely think it wasn’t off of my skill, it was off my personality and the fact I was coachable.”
She shares, “starting sports, especially cheer, it’s a lot of personality work. You need to have confidence, and motivation to always do better.”
For her first fall season this year, she felt like she was not going to make captain again. “I was pretty intimidated going into the fall season, I knew that this season [the team] was going to begin stunting, and I didn’t know how to do that.” But, contrary to her belief, “[she] was made captain again,” and felt extremely “grateful.” She states, “again, I think it only happened because of my personality and the coaches saw the effort I put into the sport, I’m always trying to improve myself.”
She improves constantly, claiming she “improves every single day at practice, and I go to competitions and watch the girls from other teams to try and improve, and my teammates always help me become better.”
Her stunting skills are stacking up as a base, mentioning she can “do full extensions, twist extensions, helping a girl do a flip, ruby slippers, twist cradles, and more.” She’s becoming more advanced, stating that “extensions and fullups,” are when things begin to become more “complicated.”
The contrast between never being a student athlete to suddenly becoming one was “definitely an adjustment.” She adds that “I didn’t expect feeling so stressed at all. Last year as a sophomore, it wasn’t as much stress because we weren’t stunting. But now, as a junior, which of course is the hardest year, we’re dedicating so much time to stunting and building skills we can compete with.”
Finding a “balance” between her “academic and athletic life” is hard for Baker, but she keeps herself motivated through her friends. “My friends remind me that ‘this is what I want, I want this experience and I want this sport, pushing through school and cheering and doing good is going to get me into college.’”
She states, “I have so much respect for the athletes who have been doing a sport throughout their entire life. They have had to be eligible every quarter to participate, and I definitely see how hard it is to do that.” She finishes, I always say there are not enough hours in the day to do everything, but now I really understand the stress differently.”
