Three years is all it took; a lot can happen in that much time. For Rachel Fisher and the ASU cheerleading club, those three years symbolize and are the essence of their team.
“I honestly look back on it and through all the rough times can’t believe how far the team has come,” says Fisher, the head coach and co-founder of the club. “From skill level to school community recognition, the difference is light years beyond what I had imagined three years ago.”
“It” had been the making of the club cheerleading program. Reality has shown that everything happens imperfectly perfect—the program stands today but it had been no easy task to establish it.
After ASU dismissed their intercollegiate team, there had been a void. This void in Fisher’s eyes was an opportunity to bring forward yet another source of spirit and wholly, a positive representation of the university.
With help from others—Scott Barclay donating time for them to practice at Aspire Kids Sports Center included—the team had enough resources to establish.
The club does not cheer at sporting events. Rather, they represent ASU on a national level by participating in cheer competitions. These competitions involve routines that encompass all of the stunts—flips, spins and turns. The routines are choreographed and require the fundamental acrobatic and footwork skill.
“I would say that technique is incredibly important and one of the easiest things for judges to nit-pick,” Fisher says. “So, making sure that each skill is executed correctly takes time and perseverance.
Fundamentals are the basics of cheerleading but what makes a routine great is pushing the limit by knowing the team’s strengths and weaknesses and highlighting them accordingly.”
If the routine incorporates a greater level of flips and twists, the team will receive a higher score. According to Fisher, “in order to be able to do those skills you must first perfect the simple stuff.”
The results of that time and perseverance are direct. The team competes annually in California and Las Vegas; Arizona does not have any teams in ASU’s division. Traveling out of state for competitions proves to be the least of their hardships. The club has beaten the University of Southern California two years in a row and at the national level, has received paid bids to the U.S. Finals for the past three years; the club had placed third in the nation in 2011.
It all starts with being motivated enough to persevere in the eyes of adversity. The Sun Devil cheerleading club seems to have prospered through obstacles, even since its beginning. Their time and effort has translated—they have an organized club, a practice facility and medalled reputation.
“I think the most important quality is dedication. Without it, they (team) are not motivated to work hard, succeed and persist through difficulty. Cheerleading is not easy and requires practice as well as skill in order to have a winning routine,” Fisher says.
The team has taken steps to expand this year. The cheerleading club is now co-ed, which opens up new doors in competition. Generally, co-ed squads are able to increase their level of difficulty in routines. This is an obstacle. With this change though, the team has but another motivator.
“I am incredibly confident in the team this year,” Fisher says. “Having guys on the team changes everything from ability to increased level of difficulty. The only downside is that we are up against teams with greater talent as well so we have to work even harder in order to compete.”
Fisher is an optimist regardless of the degree of competition. What has also changed this year is that “the girls also have a much higher level of tumbling in years past which allows us to have more trick passes and a longer tumbling sequence.”
Perseverance can be the characteristic to define the mini-dynasty ASU’s cheerleading club has made for themselves. They had founded themselves on opportunity, optimism and the sole fact that being “comfortable” is not an option.
To not have a program would not have sat well with Fisher, and not taking advantage of the total opportunity would not sit well with the team.
Check out my next post for extended coverage of “Aspire for Greatness.” You can email me at bcapria@asu.edu.
