For many students at Coastal Carolina University (CCU), Saturdays are dedicated to football. They dress according to theme, spend hours at the tailgate before they eventually make their way to Brooks Stadium– but for CCU cheerleaders, their day looks a little different.
Coastal’s cheer team, their head coach Jenna Shapiro and assistant coach Sean Sullivan, spend countless hours preparing for game day as well as other events throughout the year. However, a lot of this takes place behind the scenes.
With practices Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday varying from two to three hours, they dedicate themselves to bringing Brooks Stadium alive on those crucial Saturday nights.
The team arrives on the field three hours before kickoff. With hair and makeup done, they begin the Chant Walk where they interact with businesses who sponsor CCU. Before the team does anything else, they dedicate time to warm up.
“It’s a whole day’s process,” Chesebrough said.
This year, in order for students to be on the Chanticleer cheer team, coaches Shapiro and Sullivan held virtual tryouts instead of in person. The new members seemed averse to the idea, whole returning members made it directly to the interview process.
“If they wanted you on the team based on your actions from last year, then you didn’t have to do a virtual tryout,” sophomore flyer Makenzie Witkowski said.
In order to prepare for this season, they hosted challenges for members to complete each week. Some of these challenges were mainly skill-based but others were more for team bonding.
Some team members, including sophomore flyer Amanda Chesebrough, think they could have used more actual training and practice prior to the start of the football season.
“We didn’t practice at all this summer, which didn’t benefit us,” Chesebrough said.
In addition to training and performing, the cheerleaders host cheer camps to raise money for the team and interact with the community. The team had one kids camp this year and will host numerous college preparation clinics throughout the year.
As their competitive Daytona season quickly approaches, members fight for a spot in order to compete at the end of the year.
Witkowski said although the team has been extremely positive, supportive and uplifting this year, they are inherently competitive.
The Daytona competition is split into two separate divisions with 20 spots on each team, with one all-female and one co-ed team. Their all-girls team, which has not yet been decided for the competition, will compete in the advanced level. The anticipated co-ed team is set to compete in the intermediate level.
The Chanticleers can anticipate more training and practice for the remainder of the season and will keep Daytona in the back of their minds as additional motivation.
