Pete Moye’
Sports Button

Short skirts, pom poms and peppy spirits are what most people think of when they see a cheerleader, but what people don’t see are the long hard hours the squad puts in every day to perfect the cheers, freshman Ceaser Castillo expressed.

It’s 30 minutes until practice and more than half the squad is already on the field practicing its moves.

Head coach James “Chip” Austin and assistant coach Liz Rohrmoser enter the stadium and the team’s attention automatically shifts to them as the coaches set up for practice.

Incoming freshman Gesselle Arevalo said, “Chip and Liz really know how to control their set of kids, they don’t let anyone step all over them.”

The team consists of 42 cheerleaders and only two are returning members.

Rohrmoser feels that the squad this year has a lot of heart and passion for what it does and is very dedicated to achieve.

Even though the squad is considered an athletic team and is required to meet the academic standard of any other athlete, it does not receive the same benefits as the other athletic teams on campus do.

“Other colleges around here, like at Mount San Antonio College, (the cheerleaders) have priority registration and we do not,” Austin said.

Austin adds that the team lost half its members to Los Angeles Harbor and East Los Angeles Colleges due to the fact that the members could not obtain the nine to 12 units that are required to join the team.

He adds, that the team had priority registration when the program was first formed and then was relinquished in the late 1990s.

Castillo feels that the cheerleaders should have the same opportunity to see the athletic counselors and should also have priority registration since they do provide an important service to the school.

Arevalo also feels that they should also receive the same benefits that the other athletes receive but understand that with the budget cuts it will probably not happen anytime soon.

The team has not been able to compete since 2006, due to members not being able to get the classes they need, according to Austin.

“We can’t commit to a competition if the school can’t commit to my kids getting classes.

“There’s a lot of factors that play into being a cheerleader.” .”