March MADNESS for AU Cheer! – Joanna, AU Cheerleading Captain

With cheering for the Men and Women’s Basketball Patriot League Final games, Men’s Championship and NCAA tournament, and practices for Nationals, this month has been the epitome of “March Madness” for many of the girls on the American University Cheerleading Team.

Last week 12 of our girls, myself included, out of 20 team members were lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel to Philadelphia, PA to cheer for our men’s basketball team in their second NCAA appearance. We all met last Wednesday evening to board the bus to Philly. Once we arrived and were checked in our hotel, we all got together in Kelsea’s, our co-captain, and my room to make posters for the guys intended to keep their morale up and know that we support them on and off the court. The next morning, we woke up for a little practice and stroll around Philly. Our coach insisted we head straight to the Philadelphia Museum of Art also known as the “Rocky Steps.” Many of my favorite childhood memories would be sitting in my father’s lap watching movies after his long, hard days of work- Rocky being one of them. A lot of the girls were so excited we were running and singing to the theme of Rocky our entire way there despite the frigid gloomy morning. It was such a good feeling to be able to kick back with the girls, joke around and bond. Coach became mr. photographer (thanks coach!) and ran up and down the steps with us as he snapped pictures of us with the Rocky statue, on the steps, and stunting over the Philly backdrop. It was definitely a memorable morning.

It started raining, and poured just in time as we made it back to our hotel to grab a quick bite to eat at an adorable little Amish market a few doors down from the hotel. I had to get a good run in before I ate so I took the food to go and headed to the tiny hotel gym and worked the treadmill. We were told we had 2-3 hours to get game ready for an appearance at an alumni reception before the game (With 12 girls, 4 bathrooms and only 2 hours- you do the math! Haha). It was fun getting ready with the girls and running back and forth making sure the girls had everything they needed. Around 3pm, we gathered in the hotel lobby to take some pictures and board the bus with the pep band to head over to the Phillies baseball stadium where the University held an Alumni Reception before tipoff in a sweet clubhouse. We schmoozed with alum and stood for photo ops with Kermit Washington, AU President Kerwin, and Z100 deejay. We were even put on air!

About an hour before tip off, we left for the Wachovia Center to check in and warm up alongside the Villanova cheerleaders. It was a rocky start and I could sense a lot of the girls were nervous but I reminded them that it would be one of the greatest games they would have ever cheered at and to have fun! Having cheered last year in Birmingham against Tennessee, I was becoming more accustomed and even liking being in front of larger crowds and larger games. I like playing with the crowd and feeding off their energy. Walking out, I cannot explain the feeling you get walking out onto a court of 60,000 fans and have them cheer for you! The team was not even on the court yet and our fans were so excited to see us! This reminded me of one of the reasons I love to cheer and one of the main reasons we are cheerleaders- to support our team, our school—regardless of win or loss! As well as our guys played Tennessee last year, it was as if our guys played even better this year. There was a substantial amount of time where our guys were able to instill a little fear into Nova and everyone hoped our Cinderella team would meet its crowning moment. Unfortunately, it was as if Nova came back second half with a vengeance as the moment they started pulling ahead of our Eagles, it was then I could hear the overwhelmingly angry roar of Nova fans. Nonetheless, us cheerleaders pushed harder and harder to boost spirits, get our fans on their feet, and cheer our guys on.

When it became painstakingly obvious that our dream had faded away, I sat there in the last minute of the game taking in my surroundings and reflecting on my past four years as a cheerleader for these guys. I admit I tried so hard to fight back the tears as I became a little nostalgic (I guess I get a little too emotionally invested in my teams) with the realization it could be the last game of my cheerleading career (I am trying so hard to stay for another year-I don’t want to leave and constantly tell my coach and professors they will need a crane to get me out of this place haha). Aside from being a little depressed having my hopes shot down and seeing some of the guys cry at the buzzer, I lost it. I had been cheering for these guys since I was a freshman and could see how they have transformed their program, athletics, the university and the country. This year, there was no “American? Where’s that?” compared to last year. These boys have helped put AU on the map-- and for that and all of their hard work, I could not have been prouder of them. Having had the opportunity to cheer at both NCAA appearances meant so much to me and will be cherished moments in my heart forever.

We left early the next morning for DC and a lot of the girls were very exhausted and not too thrilled about practice the next day. I guess it was the getting back to reality part that bummed some of us out and having to catch up on school work and other priorities. Keeping this in mind, I sought a way to ease some stress and pressure on the girls and asked coach if we could have a “crazy practice day” where the girls could wear whatever they wanted as long as it did not interfere with practice and stunting. As captain, I sought to be totally ridiculous to instill some laughter from my teammates. From the picture below, you can pretty much see how funny everyone looks. Something magical happened, where despite our exhaustion and stress, we started performing our routine pretty decent and declared Saturday practices until Nationals be “crazy themed days” to give the girls something to look forward to despite our long and hard practices where sweat, blood, body aches are not uncommon.