Photo courtesy of SMSU cheerleading Members of the SMSU cheerleading team pose for a photo during a recent basketball game.

An athlete is defined as a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports or games requiring physical strength, agility or stamina. The Southwest Minnesota State University cheerleaders deserve to be called an athlete but many people debate that point, making them and others feel underappreciated. These are the young women and sometimes men who are on the sidelines bringing school spirit and using strength to perform stunts, agility to move quickly and stamina to continuously do it for the duration of the games. The SMSU cheerleading team is comprised of 10 members, eight who are freshmen (Elizabeth Gohr, Samantha Hecht, Josylen Jacobson, Mackenzie Keenan, Lilli Leeandowski, Sadie Oorlog, Ruby Redunz and Joanna Tichnell), one sophomore (Emily Burns) and one junior (Ellie Anselment). They are under the leadership of first-year head coach Anna Bonnstetter who also was a four-year starter as a cheerleader in college.

When asked why she thinks cheerleaders are underappreciated, Keenan advocated her feelings about that.

“I have friends on other teams on campus like football or wheelchair basketball say it’s not a sport, it’s not that hard,” Keenan said. “All I tell them is come do what I do, then tell me it is not a sport.”

Coach Bonnstetter followed up on Keenan comments.

“I think that because cheerleading is not in competition at a lot of places, it is not looked at as a sport,” Bonnstetter said. “However, we do stunting, which is a very athletic part of what we do, it’s not easy and I think there’s a stigma around it that we are fans on the sidelines and we have to work to change that.”

Oorlog, one of two captains on the team, gave a great response in talking about balancing life as a student/cheerleader while maintaining good mental health.

“I definitely think it comes down to knowing that you can talk to people on the team,” Oorlog said. Also making sure you have a strong group of friends whether big or small to help you through problems you have.”

Oorlog’s teammate Hecht, who is a co-captain of the team, also elaborated on this topic.

“I feel like for most of us we come here and that’s our way of getting the stress off our minds,” Hecht said. “We come here and everyone works together like a family and we are all good friends.”

Having the opportunity to see what a practice is like up close and personal, it is a family kind of atmosphere with unlimited amounts of energy being exhibited all through practice. These are the same exercises these athletes do that you would see on a court, field or rink do but don’t get the proper respect. As their season has now concluded, tryouts are on April 9 for the next season. Leeandowski gave great advice for the upcoming participants in the tryouts stating that, “Just give it a chance, be ready to push yourself and make new friends. It’s a lot of fun and it builds your confidence. You meet a new set of people who you’re on a team with and will have your back.”

Being able to balance classes, practices, putting on fundraisers and going to all the games, it’s amazing to me how the word “underappreciated” can be associated with cheerleaders. Respected athletes is what should be associated with these women and it’s not even debatable in my mind.

— Chris Drummond is a sports reporter for the Marshall Independent.

Email: cdrummond@marshallindependent.com

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