Spirit Brave Style: UNCP Cheerleading

By Chris Nicolini
Sports/Web Editor

The2003-04 cheerleading squad is looking forward to a productive season cheering on other UNCP athletic teams as well as competing in competitions of their own.

Despite the thoughts and opinions of many uninformed individuals that cheerleading is not actually a sport, more of an athletic competition, the
athletes involved with the squad disagree
drastically.

“Cheerleading is indeed a sport because there
is just as much athleticism in cheerleading as anything else. They have to work out and train hard, just like any other athlete. All the
tumbling and gymnastic skills that they bring
to the squad… they have to work really hard,”
said Head Coach Chris McIntyre, now in his
fourth year behind the reins of the UNCP cheerleading program.

This year’s team has a total of 23 athletes, 13 females and 10 males.

“The men help out a lot with the strength they bring,” said junior Lauren Newsome. “We’ll do
something and occasionally they’ll grab our butts when catching throws and say things like ‘I love cheerleading!’”

The addition of a large number of males to the squad allows the team to incorporate more complicated throws and stunts into their routines.

“The more males we have the more difficult stunts we can do,” said McIntyre, “but this year I was shocked because I didn’t expect this many to attend. A couple of them came from high school teams and a couple of them I coached in high school.”

“I think this is the best squad that Pembroke has ever had, so students should come out and see us,” Newsome said.

The cheerleading squad will be in action at the first home basketball game on Nov. 17.