Outsiders unfamiliar with cheerleading sometimes criticize the sport for the fact that, at least superficially, it involves cheering for other people rather than proactively accomplishing something for oneself. Yet the Harvard cheerleaders defend and relish their roles.
“I think one of our other captains articulated it best the other day on the van to Dartmouth,” Cardona says. “She said, ‘The football players always come up to us and say ‘Thank you,’ or they IM us and say, ‘Thank you for cheering, thanks for standing in the cold.’
“I really wish I could tell them, ‘Thank you for thanking us, but this is our equivalent to your football. We do it because we love the sport; we don’t really do it because we’re cheering for you,”’ Cardona continues.
“Even if there were no football games,” Ballah adds, “we would still be cheerleaders. A lot of us have competed before, some at high schools that didn’t even have football or basketball teams. But we do love cheering for the team.”
“They’re awesome,” Ballah continues, “they’re undefeated, they’ve played really well and they deserve people there cheering them on. We wouldn’t want to cheer for anyone else.”
There are lots of perks for the cheerleaders. For Cardona, one of the greatest is the adoration of the little kids who attend the games.
“When we cheer at home,” she says, “a lot of the Boston inner-city youth programs come, and all the little girls and all the little boys love us to death and make us feel like we’re rock stars. They yell our names out all day long, and at the end they run down and have us autograph their magazines.”
“They ask for hugs—and numbers,” remarks another cheerleader. “The little boys don’t realize how old we are. But we love being stalked by 10-year-olds.”
Besides cheering at the football and basketball games, the cheerleading team plans to begin competing this year. They hope to participate in a regional competition in December.
“We’re really excited,” Ballah says, “and we’re hoping to build our reputation more, and show people how serious and athletic we are.”