Cheerleaders Compete at Nationals for the First Time

We know what many of you are thinking. Harvard has cheerleaders? And even for those of you who have been to a basketball or football game and seen them in action, how many knew that this bubbly club J.V. team is a fully-fledged Division I large co-ed squad? That’s right, and you know what else is probably news? They’re good. Actually, really good.

Over the weekend of April 9-12, this year’s squad became the first group of Crimson cheerleaders to make it the NCA/NDA Collegiate Cheer and Dance Championships in Daytona, Fla., after painstaking fundraising and tireless practice.

Click here and search for Harvard to see the squad in action at the preliminaries, but to hear more about their trip and what it means to the program, read on after the jump.

Having never qualified for nationals, Harvard cheerleaders spent three months putting together a video showcasing their mad skills to the NCA. If your only experience with cheerleading is Bring It On, then you’re all set. That is EXACTLY what college cheerleading looks like. Tumbling, flipping, and stacking human bodies into giant pyramids are all routine for these peppy athletes and Harvard proved itself worthy of a national stage. But, the team also had to face harsh reality: the best trip of their cheering lives would cost a whopping $20,000, sparking a fundraising marathon.

“Once we found out we had gotten a spot at nationals, we had to ramp it up,” tri-captain Lucas Toffoli said. “We contacted alums, held fundraising events, applied for grants…some people on the team even went to do dormcrew to get a little extra money.”

For a great underdog story, FlyBy should tell you that the Crimson sparkled in its nationals debut, trouncing more seasoned squads on its way to the medal stand. Instead, it acted how any group would in the face of exciting new surroundings: the squad ran out onto the mat for preliminaries and got nervous.

“It was so different from any other competition,” tri-captain Devin Hein said. “There were flashing lights and the room was packed. But right after we took the floor for the first time it clicked for everybody and we saw what it meant to be a nationally competitive squad.”

While early jitters hurt its performance and kept Harvard from reaching the finals, the Crimson got another shot to show what it could do in the “challenger’s cup.” Demonstrating its newfound perspective, Harvard nailed its routine the second time around, scoring 9.8 out of 11 in the pyramid section.

Even if the squad isn’t ready yet to take home hardware, the captains recognized the importance of the opportunity to compete.

“It was the pinnacle of our season,” Toffoli said. “We got to showcase our routine and let people know that Harvard does indeed have a cheerleading team that is serious about what we do. It was also a really great experience for bringing the team together.”

Considering the tremendous experience for all involved, Hein insists that the team will be back in Daytona next year and that the question is only, “Can we bring something new?”

Let’s hope the rest of the squad is just as enthusiastic about this goal, because after all, it’s not a democracy, it’s a cheerocracy.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons/MASA.