group of 12,” he said. Schaar’s scariest experience with cheer-
leading came when he dropped his partner at practice. “She fell and busted her chin [on] the concrete, and I remember running around campus looking for a phone to call the EMT,” Schaar said. “I felt terrible.” Schaar’s cheer experiences varied from
scary to funny throughout his years. “I remember that our uniforms were so ridicu- lous – both boys and girls had to wear short shorts,” he said. While cheerleading, Schaar had a crush
on a girl, but with an unexpected twist on the common college romance stereotype. “We cheered for both the guys and the girls teams, and I had a crush on a girl basketball player. Of course, she didn’t know that I existed,” he said. “It was really funny, because I was the male cheerleader who had a crush on the girl basketball jock.” Schaar cheered for one and a half years
in college and stopped, like Van Soelen ,be- cause of too many activities. “In my first two years, I joined about every single club there was,” Schaar said. “In my second year, I was a part of an acapella group that took a lot of time, which caused me to quit cheerleading.” Troughout the process, Schaar did not let the teasing stop him. “I always knew I was different, and I always became the odd one out in some way or another,” he said. “I didn’t let it get to me, I just brushed it off.” Looking back at the experience, Schaar sees the effect that it has had on his life. “Now it all makes sense. Being a teacher is exactly like being a cheerleader,” he said. “Saying you can do it and cheering a student on, in some ways, is much more important than a formula.”
WATKINSON Science teacher Christopher Watkinson’s
journey with cheerleading at the University of Pittsburgh started when he and his friend jokingly said they wanted to be cheerlead- ers. “One of the girls who was with us was a cheerleader, and she walked away and came back with the cheer coach and signed us up,” he said. Watkinson jokingly participated in try-
outs, but after seeing all of the tricks and stunts, cheerleading became a serious activity for him.“Te cheer experience was really cool, and I actually learned stuff like flips and tumbling,” he said. Watkinson learned many tricks and cheers, but he, along with the other guys, was the one who threw and caught the cheerleaders. “I liked knowing other cheerleading tricks, but I also liked being the base,” he said. The experience helped get Watkinson another position. “I got to be a part time mascot and then eventually full-time because of cheerleading,” he said. Acting as the team’s mascot was no differ- ent than cheerleading. Te moves and cheers Watkinson learned while being a cheerleader helped him be an excellent mascot. “Te mascot basically did every cheer with the cheerleaders and a lot of the stunts as well. Te only different thing that I did as a mas- cot was the basket toss,” he said. One of the most striking experiences that Watkinson had as a cheerleader was actually shown on TV. “ESPN was showing a Pitts vs. Notre Dame game, and there I was, next to the coach, holding an ‘H,’ ready to run on.” During his time as a cheerleader, Watkin-
son made friends on the team, but he also got teased about his hobby. “I got teased at the beginning, but then they saw how many girls I was hanging out with, and all of the teasing began to stop,” he said. Even if the teasing continued, Watkinson would not have quit cheerleading. “I am not easily persuaded by what other people say. If I am interested in [something], then I’m simply going to do it.,” he said. Becoming a cheerleader gave Watkinson
and his fellow cheerleaders a reason to bond. “We hung out even when we weren’t cheer- leading. We would go out with the team, and sometimes if the girls didn’t want to be hit on by other guys, we would pretend we were their boyfriends,” he said. Te group became real close, and cheering helped them to become even closer. “I became even greater friends with the buddy that I joined the cheerleading squad with,” he said. After having cheered on the team for all
four years of college, Watkinson wanted to continue his interest. “When I moved to
“I am not easily persuaded by what other people say. If I am interested in [something], then I’m simply going to do it.” – Chris Watkinson, science teacher
Georgia, I looked up co-ed teams, but I was sad to see that Georgia State was not one of them,” he said. Finally, Watkinson found a team that would allow him to cheer, though there was a catch. “I tried out at Agnes Scott [College], and they accepted me, but since it was an all girl’s school, it would be kind of weird, so I decided not to [join].” Although Watkinson has given up
cheerleading, he remembers some of his cheers and tricks today. He still has the desire to cheer or do a stunt every now and then. “Maybe on spirit day or the pep rally next year, I will do some flips on the field or something,” he said. “You never know.”n
Photos by Fikrea Tesema
DECEMBER 2011 • CARPE DIEM
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