Here on campus swimming and diving, wrestling, and even football are all considered coed sports. But there is one that does not get recognized, cheer. Cheerleading has always been a female dominated sport, but boys can also be part of that. Boys on the cheer team are seen in society but not really something seen around campus. 

Head cheer coach Desiree Houg says, “We’ve only had one boy tryout in the nine years I’ve been here.” 

If the cheer team had boys, it would not really change anything if they made Freshmen or JV cheer, but Varsity would take a major shift because they would have to compete in a coed division. Schools like Basha and Chandler already compete in the coed division. 

Our current Varsity cheer squad doesn’t have a problem with boys joining the cheer team.

“If they were to tryout, they’d be welcome and we wouldn’t mind changing from all girls to coed,” 

Varsity Cheer said. 

“Stunting is different than all girls and it would be cool to do,” they said. 

A student who graduated three years ago, from here Cameron Rua-Smith, is currently on the University of Arizona cheer team. Before he chose the path of cheerleading, he played football and participated in many other sports like wrestling and track. He was not in cheer. 

He realized he did not want to play football because he became bored with it. Once he admitted that to himself, he emailed his coach and told him. There happened to be a spot open for a guy on the cheer squad, but he missed the tryout date. So, he prepared for the late spring tryout mid-summer. 

“I practiced my stunting for about a month before my tryout in June and made the team,” Rua-Smith said. 

He was prepared for how much work it was because it was not easy, there will always be obstacles. 

Although, there has not been a guy on the cheer team on campus, one is from here. Rua-Smith goes on to say, “With cheer you have to learn how to not get in your head about stunting, or tumbling, etc.” 

For the past three years Rua-Smith has worked hard and worked his way up to captain. As captain he leads the practices and organizes cheers appearances around campus. 

A poll was taken with 26 males, 22 said guys should do cheer if they want to. However, 11 guys would not personally try out for the cheer team but 22 would try out if offered a scholarship. 

“You better be serious, they put in as much time as any other sport, they’re athletes don’t let anyone tell you they’re not,” Principal Dan Serrano said. If anyone were to tryout, they should take it seriously and not a joke. 

Doing the stunts and tumbling in cheer is very serious and someone can get possibly injured if not done properly. Athletes need to be prepared for whatever sport they are going to pursue.