Freshman cheerleader shares her experience

Amanda Hester
Pittsburgh Standard

This year our cheerleading squad has been working hard to keep up the spirit at the football and basketball games. In the month of April the university held tryouts for the cheerleading squad. Those who made it continued to practice throughout the summer. During the first week of school we started our all day practices to learn all the material for the upcoming football season.

Our squad consists of twenty-two girls and seven guys all coached by Theresa Nuzzo, a former cheerleader at the University of Pittsburgh. We cheer for football and men’s and women’s basketball. Not only do we appear at the games, we practice three to four times a week.

We also show up at many events such as the bonfire, the Panther Fan Fest, the Aeropostale fashion show, and many other activities. Our squad does many creative activities to get the Pittsburgh fans as involved as possible, such as the very popular T-shirt toss. The fans’ support is very important to the team and us as well.

As a freshman, I found this to be a great experience. I do things that I normally would have never got a chance to do. It’s amazing being on the field right before the team comes out and all the excited fans are standing and cheering. Coming from a small high school, that was a major shock to me, yet it was extremely exciting. Also, getting a chance to cheer at Heinz Field makes it even better.

Traveling with the team is a part of cheerleading that is a unique experience. I got a chance to go to Notre Dame this season. Their stadium was awesome and I had a lot of fun while I was there. I went to West Virginia University to cheer Pitt on. Since I am only a freshman, I do not get to go to all the away games. The juniors and seniors get to travel on the airplane with the team to the rest of the games that are away.

Football is not quite over and basketball is just starting, leaving us busy as ever. After cheering at the Pitt–Virginia Tech game, we then had to cheer a men’s basketball game that night. It’s our job to be at every game and keep the spirit.

During basketball season, we will start practicing for the Universal Cheerleading Association’s national competition in Florida. We will compete against other college cheerleading squads across the nation. Hopefully all our hard work will pay off at this competition.

Cheering for collegiate sports is definitely exciting, especially here at Pitt, but there is one more excitement to it. I have become close with the squad and made a lot of new friends. They are a great group of girls and guys and I am glad that I got a chance to cheer with them. 

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