Right before almost every commercial break during every NFL game, the camera always pans to a cute young cheerleader, shaking her pom-poms in the name of team spirit.
Whether watching cheerleaders gives the male sports fan added inspiration to cheer for his team, or he just likes seeing a beautiful girl do splits, handsprings and flips, there is no denying that cheerleading has become a valuable part of the game experience, if not a tradition on the field.
Unfortunately for the men and women of the UB cheerleading team, the time, hard work and athleticism that goes into making flips and leading cheers look easy isn't always appreciated. Training hard for three hours at a time, several days a week in order to develop routines that support UB's various sports teams is often overlooked when an enthusiastic fan is screaming on his own during a "Let's go, Buffalo" chant. That is, if there is anything to cheer about.
Being a cheerleader, male or female, demands top physical shape and excellent timing in order to properly execute what fans see as entertaining moves. While the women need to have the proper balance not to fall at the wrong time, the men need to be strong enough to hold and catch the women.
"Watching what the guys are doing, it's not all that 'rah-rah-rah' stuff and just yelling on the sidelines," said assistant head coach Justin Bridenbaker. "It's a lot more physical. A lot of physical activity goes into this. A lot of trust on the girl's part and confidence in their partner."
These students are not just responsible for cheering for the football team and men's and women's basketball teams during home games. They represent UB on the road and during annual competitions known as the UB Spirit Challenge.
UB sponsors two fundraisers every year in conjunction with the National Cheerleading Association in order to put the top cheerleading teams to the test. In the fall, a contest is held in Buffalo and in the spring, a contest is held in Daytona, Fla. Each event hosts a panel of judges that rate more than 100 teams in categories such as jumps, tumbling, timing and formation. The money made goes to financing the UB cheerleading program.
The athletes on the squad come from an array of different disciplines, all of which involve years of athletic grooming.
"I started in high school," senior business major Erin Hoag said. "I was doing gymnastics for a while, dancing for a while and diving for a long time too. All of those together led me right to this."
The majority of cheerleaders throughout sports are female. However, that is not to suggest that there is no place for men in the sport. Catching a girl who falls from 15 feet in the air is a pretty important role.
Many of the UB cheerleaders started in high school and carried the trend to their college years. The male cheerleaders are no exception, according to senior English major Terynce Butts.
"A couple of friends from high school got me into it," Butts said. "The team was going co-ed that year, so they told me to come out and try it out. That's just what I did and I never left."
Bridenbaker puts an emphasis on how important the job of a male cheerleader is, encouraging any male devoted to physical fitness and hard work to come try out.
"Any male is welcome to come and try out," Bridenbaker said. "There is no reason not to like being a male cheerleader. With me, I like that it keeps me active. I get out here three times a week and work out. It keeps me involved instead of sitting on the couch and getting fat."
The amount of energy and spirit evoked in a crowd of thousands of people can be a powerful thing in any game. Thanks to the athletic ability of these often underrated sideline athletes, that energy is always there.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
