There is no doubt as to who the leaders in this world are. It's in their name - cheerleaders. Some may be asking, where is the love?
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Wendy Richards has been a part of Ball State cheerleading for 13 years - three as a cheerleader, and 10 as a coach - and knows about a lack of respect.
"I think we are taken for granted more than underappreciated," she said, "but that is part of the job."
It would be easy to feel taken for granted when one free throw from Rob Robbins evokes more of a response from the crowd than a perfectly executed arabesque.
The key to understanding cheerleading is understanding that everything is not as simple as it may look.
"What they do is not easy," Richards said. "It may look easy, but it takes a lot of time and a lot of knocks."
The squad practices twice a week for three hours. Mix that with cheering for football, volleyball and men's and women's basketball, and a cheerleader's free nights are limited.
"A lot of people expect us to do the things we do, but it is hard," said junior captain Rhea Waldo. Another misconception about cheerleading is that the men and women are on scholarship. This is not the case. In fact, cheerleaders get very few of the amenities received by varsity athletes. "They get no book stipends, no priority scheduling," Richards said. "They aren't getting anything for it; they just enjoy it." The squad could be seen at the Maui Invitational this year, but the trip was not an all-expenses-paid holiday. In fact, the squad skipped the college national competition in order to be with the team in Hawaii. That is no small sacrifice, considering they placed 13th in the nation last year and were televised on ESPN 2 a number of times. "They got a lot of praise for going to Maui," Richards said. A few good men Finding women to cheer is not a problem at Ball State. After all, many women who attend the school cheered in high school. Finding male lifters for the team, however, is a different story. "We always have a lot of women come, but not so many men," Waldo said. "So we have to look for them." The squad's recruiting methods are a bit unorthodox, but they work. Instead of panning the state for the top cheer-lifting prospects, they recruit much more closely. "We usually just go to the weight room and say, 'Hey! Come see what we're doing,'" laughed Richards. "They actually have to see it before they do it, but they usually like it," Waldo said. "A lot of people think male cheerleaders are kind of feminine, but it's really the complete opposite." Motivation Cheerleaders are known for the peppy, always-happy personas on and off the field of play. In her 13 years, Wendy Richards has been through good and bad times, and one of the hardest parts about cheerleading, she says, is staying optimistic. "It's really tough when the teams aren't winning, but we still have to hold our heads up and still get the crowd ready to go," she said. Richards has seen teams hit rock bottom, as the football team did in their 27-game losing streak that ended in the 2000 season. She has also seen the pinnacle, when the men's basketball team reached the Sweet Sixteen in 1990. The key, she says, is to hang in there when the fans aren't cheering, because when they start again, it seems that much louder. "It just feels great to be in front of a cheering crowd doing stunts," Waldo said. And when the cheering stops, you still have your teammates. "You make some of your best friends cheering," Waldo said. "You spend a lot of time together and you just have so much fun."
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