As I was trying to make a list of some actions Ryan G. Beckwith, Bakersfield College’s new athletic director, could take to make the athletic department at BC even better, I found it difficult to find anything that really needed to be improved.
Our facilities, like the football stadium and baseball/softball fields are magnificent, and our coaches do a great job utilizing the talent that they get.
I am impressed with Beckwith’s enthusiasm and energy he brings to the table, and I love the young, fresh attitude he has.
With that in mind, I have just one suggestion, to fix something that doesn’t fit in with that whole persona that he is trying to imprint into the athletic department.
Our cheer team is unbearable.
When visiting teams come to face our football team, or any of our sports teams for that matter, they laugh at the ’50s-like routine that the cheerleaders dish out.
Often, people will argue that, “These cheers are our tradition, and we need to stick to it.”
Don’t listen to the spin; if tradition is ruining our chances of being taken seriously among the cheerleading community, then we should forget about tradition and find some new routines.
I know from my inside sources that the cheerleaders are picked by the amount of “sparkle” that they have (whatever that means).
You call, “Go, go, go, go, go, go; one more time: go!” sparkling?
The “Go BC, Go,” chant was one thing, but now it seems like the cheer squad isn’t getting better routines as time goes on, but they are regressing.
When I made the move up from high school to college, I was expecting our cheerleaders to get a little Beyoncé for the fans, but instead, the Bakersfield College cheer team dishes out the same lame lines and moves I’ve been hearing since I was in elementary school.
If this is too much to ask for, maybe because the average age of the viewing audience at a BC football game is well over that needed to receive an AARP card, then it seems BC will forever be stuck in this conservative day-dream of reality.
Our athletic department can never be considered, “to have the Division-I feel and look,” as Beckwith mentioned in the Sept. 8 issue of the Renegade Rip, if our cheerLEADERS can’t come up with an original cheer of their own.
With all the success our team’s are having, like the football team’s recent 28-0 thrashing of Antelope Valley College, and the soccer team’s 4-0 record in 2011, the cheer team is holding us back in mediocrity, and until that changes, no one, especially me, will take BC athletics with same grain of salt as a USC-type athletic powerhouse.
If tradition isn’t the main reason for the dry chanting that illuminates from Memorial Stadium on Saturday nights, then there must be another reason.
Is it that the recruiting pool in Kern County for cheerleaders is really shallow? Or, is it so talented that all our cheerleaders are, in fact, moving up straight to Division-I schools?
I highly doubt either of those statements, and I’m sure the women on the cheer team are yearning to show the fans what they can do.
Let’s hope that this gets fixed so we can all take out the earphones and listen to the game. If things don’t change, I don’t think I’ll be coming back once I’m an alumni.
Lorraine • Sep 24, 2011 at 11:31 am
I agree with many of the points in the above article, however, instead of ripping these talented young ladies apart, maybe he should look at the leadership behind these girls. I have sat at many of these games and wondered why they are doing less than the youth cheerleading squads in our community? The cheerleaders would like to be doing more and pushing themselves, but they are being held back and told that they have to stay with tradition. The traditional stuff that they do, they do well, but they are being told that they are not allowed to become updated and in with the times. Every single girl on that squad would love to be stunting at a college level, but the stunting is horrific and literally what 10 year olds are doing at youth football games. As far as the tryout process, I know of some very talented cheerleaders that didn’t want to try out because BC has a reputation as having bad cheerleaders. Most cheerleading squads compete, BC does not, though they were told by the coach last year that they would be competing this year and they are not. I for one, would love to see the BC cheerleaders shake it up and put a little spice in their routines, however, they are not given that opportunity. If the football players were running plays from the 80’s that didn’t work anymore, the football players wouldn’t be ripped apart in public, the coaches would! So please, before you start criticizing these young ladies, try talking to the coaches and make the change there! Keeping traditions are important, but not at the cost of the reputation of a team.
becki whitson, BC Cheer Coach • Sep 26, 2011 at 3:02 pm
Just so you know, I will be responding to Zak in the RIP as will several of my team, I’m sure. I would like to thank you for defending the ladies but you don’t have all your facts correct either. With regard to stunts and tumbling, the ladies are doing stunts of their caliber. They are not being held back. They can do whatever they feel capable of doing and what they want which is not much at this point in time. We have one cheer team member who has been sidelined already because of a neck injury and one who has a broken arm. As far as competition, they were never told there was going to be a competition squad. Where do you think that money would come from? The college gives us zero financial assistance. If you are a parent, you already know that because it comes out of your pocket. Last year the ladies said they wanted to go to competition and they would pay for it as well as the choreographer. Like so many things they dream up, that did not come to fruition. And for tradition, yes we do hold some tradition. But there are always new routines with new music and new cheers because we bring them to the field from cheer camp. We are held to some conservativeness as far as music and moves. After all, have you looked in the stands lately? It is those older people who continue to come to the games and support the college, year after year. They write and call the President and the Chancellor when things aren’t to their liking. Bakersfield is still conservative if you haven’t noticed. So you can make the same calls or you can apply for my job. It’s pretty thankless and a lot of hours for very little pay. And you do have it wrong that BC has a bad rep for having bad cheer teams. If ladies don’t come out for it, it’s because they are tired of cheering or they don’t want to put in the time. Why do you think some women come back year after year for Homecoming? It’s an honor and a privilege to be on the BC Cheer Team and only those with that pride and respect for BC should be trying out in the first place. Sorry you haven’t been a part of a BC Cheer Team or maybe yours was a bad experience. But for most of us, BC and cheering is nothing but hard work and pride. And just like every other sport, we have to take and work with the talent we get. becki