October 21, 2022 • 39 mins
This week on Beyond the Megaphone, Cassidy and Nathan take you through the behind the scenes of what its like to be a Division One Cheerleader at a Power Five Conference in the NCAA. They walk through everything that they do before the game even starts, as well as all of the extra things they do every game that might go unseen or unnoticed to most. They also talk about the differences between football and basketball game-day. Listen to all of this and more on Episode 5 of Beyond the Megaphone!
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Beyond the Megaphone is a production of I Heart Radio
and the College Athletes Network. Hey everybody, this is Nathan
and you're listening to Beyond the Megaphone on the College
Athletes Network. Please subscribe to the podcast that you never
miss a new episode. This can easily be done via
the I Heart Radio app. Also, you can find me
(00:25):
on Instagram and Twitter at our Nathan Paris and you
can find me on Instagram at Cassidy with a double
yse Nie stuff. We got that Twitter? Have you No?
I actually went on my Twitter, um today. I have
a Twitter Twitter, but it's I haven't used it since.
(00:47):
So a lot of my Twitter feed is like mag
convoys like nash Gar and Cameron Dallan direction one direction
type beat. So Cassie, how are you doing. I'm doing amazing. Yeah,
living a dream. I'm living a dream. So what's really
(01:11):
nice about me and Castie's lives is we are constantly busy, um,
which is good. We we do it to ourselves, you
know what I mean. I would not change it by
any means, but it definitely gets a little. I blame
nobody but myself. What's that? I blame nobody but myself? Oh, yeah, yah, yeah, yeah,
this is a million percent in my fault. So hey,
we want to talk about expectation versus reality in terms
(01:36):
of the world of game day cheerleading, because a lot
of times, you know, we're sharing for the fans and
all the fancy is a bunch of people and these
weird costumes being really loud and really extra for no reason, right,
I mean that's kind of like the basic like, oh
here come, the cheerleader is always doing the most. So basically,
(02:00):
what we want to do today is talk about all
of the different things at or kind of behind the scenes,
things that maybe most people don't see or don't think
about when we do what we do. So what the
ladies get to do is get up two hours before
we're supposed to be there and put on what's called
(02:22):
game day ready. Castie, would you explain to them what
game day ready is. See, I feel like I'm not
the right person to talk to you about this because
I do my game day makeup every day, but today, um,
like I can get ready pretty fast, but like a
lot of the girls don't wear makeup every day, so
it takes them like a little bit longer. I'm just
like used to I'm used to slang so hard every day. Okay,
(02:46):
so you got you like your own sleigh routine. Yeah, yeah,
what's your fastest time? M five minutes? Not by choice?
Explain that for me? Um, what was that like the
second game, second second football game of this season, so
(03:09):
we got to be there a fifteen and yeah, that's
a whole another situation. But um, I did not wake up.
I didn't wake up like that was not like I
was asleep. I could have slept for so long and
I don't know how I got up. And it's by
(03:30):
the grace of God that I set an alarm for
eight am because I was planning on leaving at eight am,
So I was like, you're I gotta be out the
door alarm. That was my like okay, you gotta you
gotta go, like you gotta go now. No that it
turned out to be my no, you gotta get out
of bed alarm. And I literally remember I was putting
(03:53):
on my uniform, putting my hair in, like my my
bow in, and also like simultaneously like letting my lashes dry.
Like I was a mess. And I think I left
my room at like eight oh seven. So you did
all that in seven minutes and I still slid, like
(04:15):
I literally ate that game up. Well, I was like,
I was thinking about like when you showed up and
you told us, You're like, yeah, I get up ten
minutes ago. I was like, there's no way because it
looked like normal. Luckily, I normally, for at least like
morning games, and usually for um like afternoon games, I'll
curl my hair the night before, so then I just
(04:36):
have to like, oh this, Like I just like huh.
But yeah, Luckily that night before I curled my hair,
so that was out of the way, and then I
will say I didn't wear any foundation that day. So crazy. God,
(04:58):
I hate the guy's routines so much. I was, um,
j C, he's the night, not tonight, the day of
the last game we just had when we have to
be there at like and Jonah had just gotten on
the shower and I was like, we have to leave soon.
Like you realize that Jona is a funny example because
(05:19):
he doesn't have to do his hair. He's like trained
his story to do exactly what it needs to do.
Like it looks styled, don't even wrong, it looks style,
it looks good. But it's like he's trained his hair
too dry and exactly what it looks amazing. Yeah, that's
so funny. Yeah, I mean if it's uh, we gotta
I'm like, um five, I'll start like that's insane. It's
(05:42):
as you put on your uniform and and I'm a
bad example because I like to, you know, make sure
all my hair is looking good or everything. Um. But yeah,
it probably takes like three minutes, you know. Three. Yeah,
it must have to shave. That's a different story, but
like ten. Yeah, your life is so hard. Yeah, it's tough.
(06:07):
So after we all get ready, after we all get there,
we go into the stadium. For football, we use the
corners locker room. For basketball, we have our own locker room,
our locker rooms in the Simbly Hall, so it makes
it nice and easy. Um, and we just hang out,
you know, vibe. Um. I usually in charge of the
music because I feel like most people come in n
(06:31):
not really ready to roll, and I'm like that has
a change, So play some good music, get everybody going,
act a little bit over the top, just to get
everybody awake most of the time. Um. And then we
go to let's let's go football first, Yeah, go to
the walk that actually might be one of my favorite
(06:52):
parts of game day. I think that's my favorite part
of game really, like overall, it's definitely top three for me,
like overall, as in football season or like basketball and
football season, football season. Probably, yeah, at least this year,
walk us to what is the walk because now you
have both perspectives, do have both perspectives. Ten minutes prior
(07:17):
to like the team walking out, Um, there's the Red Steppers,
which is our dance team, and then there's our team,
and then the band is behind us and the band
the Marching hundred, Marching hundred, yes band they like, will
(07:37):
play um different you know band chance and stuff like that,
and we'll cheer along with them. We'll do some cheers
here and there and just be super obnoxious until it's
time for us to leave. So the cream co ed
team will lead the walk, um, and they'll join in
(08:01):
the pathway at the very end and just you know,
cheer on the football team as they're walking into Memorial Stadium.
And then a Crimson Ladies will stand on the side
of the stairs and just like cheer along to Indiana
or Indiana, which is our school song as the team
boks by. So you guys don't move when they walk.
(08:23):
We do that straight to the tail game. I didn't
even know that because I can't see like that far
down The path we're talking about is like about a
hundred yards. Um, so maybe not like me, I have
no concept of it's pretty far, and so when there's
all these people, it's like you can't really see what's
going on. I always try and like find like the
end of the football line because I'm like, I can
(08:45):
only say, like, let's go Indiana. So many times it
was pretty cool because we get too high five other
players and it's like, I'm not Gonnas. The last game,
Tom Allen gave Jaden a high five let's go, and
things like the first thing that happened Tom Allen. I
love Tom Alan every time he comes over and gives
(09:07):
all the cheerleader sci fis before the game. It's pretty cool.
Just a very down Toroth guy. Um okay, So the walk,
that's what happens there. I really enjoy it. I love
hearing the band because that's my roots, and I always
get to see them march on. I get to see
them march afterwards and get to uh see all my
(09:27):
friends who are still in the band, which is really fun. Um,
let's talk about when we have some of the media there,
because really what I you like to utilize us as
an extension of the marketing department because we're all about
you and we're always over the top, so it's like perfect, Um,
we'll have big ten game day college game day. We
(09:50):
had that one once last year I think, um, and
then recently we had Fox Sports come, which was really cool.
I didn't get to go to that didn't get really
what do you do with the alumni them? That was
actually super cool. It was really sweet to there, Like
it was just it was a cheer alumni was just
alumni alumni in general. But they like loved that we
(10:11):
were there. They loved talking to us. And I got
to talk to like a lot of really cool people
and actually quite a few of them there had like
girls who had cheered um at I you before. Yeah,
it was it was really cool, super sweet people umly
appreciated us. It was very low key, just like us
(10:31):
walking around as there. Um, they had like breakfast foods
and it smells so good. Oh my gosh, it smells
so freaking good over there. But um, it was really fun.
Well okay, so Fox Sports was pretty cool because I
mean you would not believe the cameras that were over there.
I mean probably. I was talking to Ryan about it
(10:54):
and he was like, was that so cool? And I
was like, Brian, I wasn't there. I wasn't even there. Okay,
come on, Brian ran But so they had like, um,
the stage that was like, you know, a little football
field was the stage, and then they had like the
Fox Sports robot guy out there. It was like doing
his thing. So that was kind of cool. Um, there
(11:18):
was an unfortunate amount of Michigan fans that had like
snuck into that area, so like it was almost split.
I was like, are you kidding me? Um? But we
we got to do all that, and then we were
on the TV and you could see like what was live,
so that was kind of keeping you involved. Um. I
was like right behind Hayden, so it didn't really get
(11:39):
a lot of FaceTime there. I was lately behind Hayden
and JP. I was like, great, so I'm not gonna
be seen at all on the TV, just my forehead
just peeking over JP's shoulder. So it's fine. Those kind
of things before the game is just something that it
really just keeps us involved all three hours before kickoff.
(12:02):
I mean you think about we're pretty much going NonStop
from if it's a new kickoff, we got to essentially
be there at at the latest, right and then we
started nine and we're on our feet, moving running around
meeting people. We're in the like the tailgate lots and
things like that, like saying hi to people. Some you got.
(12:23):
You get the little nuggets that come up and want
to take a picture, and that's always so fun. Um.
The little boys like parents are like, dona picture and
they're like no, they're just so embarrassing. Mom. Yeah, um
posted up exactly. And uh, Sam and Jet are always
playing pick up football with the little guys are always
(12:44):
doing something active. It's scary a break, just relax, you know.
Those boys eat that up. Oh my gosh. That's so
that's like their best like that's their best life. Right. Yeah.
They're like, yeah, the football game was fun, but I
get to play with the so um really one here
(13:06):
that's super fun. Um. So when we talk about the
pregame stuff for basketball, we do this thing where we
it's kind of like basically what you did for the
Oleminal Association. Uh on that football game, we go into
what's called Cook Hall. Um. It's where a lot of
the alumni and donors will go before the game and
(13:27):
we have a little pep talk by some of the
assistant coaches, and then we're all in there intermingling with people,
UM saying Hey, this year, I'm gonna be handing out
my business cards as I'm walking to be like, hey,
maybe you want to hire me. I'm actually looking for
a job right now. I'm actually open to the job
search right now if you were interested in hiring a cheerleader. Um.
(13:49):
But no, that's super fun and it's just like really
cool to like not have to be on but like
still be cheerleading mode with just a couple of people,
you know, face to face instead of just like looking
up into the sea of red. That's kind of what
makes it worth it. Definitely makes it more tiring, but
I think it makes it worth it because that's where
you get all the like really cool one on one
moments with some people, and that's the things you kind
(14:12):
of remember more so than just you know, everything else
that we will talk about when we come back. You
see that glided over to that. Um. When we come back,
we're gonna talk about football game day. Okay, we're gonna
talk about when we get into the stadium, UM, talk
about the run on with the band, Shout out the band, um,
(14:35):
and just all the stuff that we're doing. UM from
the first quarter of the fourth quarter. So you are
listening to Beyond the Megaphone. I'm Nathan and this is
the College Athletes Network. Welcome back to Beyond the Megaphone
on the College Athletes Network. This is Cassidy and this
(14:58):
is Nathan. Subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss
another show already. So we're in the stadium, everybody's ready
to roll, and you hear the drum cadenced. I cannot
tell you how hype every time. I could listen to
it a million times, and every time when I hear
(15:20):
that one, two or three or four, bam, and then
everybody goes, whoa, you know what I'm saying, Oh my gosh,
it's And I have the best job in the whole
stadium this year because I get to run on the
all girl Crimson six time national champions soon to be
seven on the way UM every Saturday. So that's like
(15:44):
the coolest thing in the world. UM. It's also nice
because it's like, oh my gosh, there's cast they remember
when we were on the same team. Um, but also
because I'm Crimson's biggest fan, true or false, Okay, just
making sure. So that's super fun. But me and JP,
me and j Pizzle get to run the big flags on.
That's been like the dreams since I got to college,
(16:06):
since I was in the band. Literally, that was like
one of the selling points when I was trying to
figure out if I wanted to do band or Yeah,
the big flag I was like, I want to do that.
It looks so dope. I want to hold a flag
dot weighs way too much and wave it all over
the place in Memorial Studium pretty much. That was sophomore
year Nathan stot process. Um, so we do that, we
(16:30):
get to we get to run everybody on. We're down
in the front um. We try and get that side involved.
We call that the alumni side. That's where a lot
of the parents and alumni and just g a people
are so like they might not be as invested in
the sports as maybe the other side, which is all students,
and they're just hyped up ready to roll. So but
(16:52):
they still do a good job. Every time, you know,
we're down there. They're pretty interactive, I think. I mean,
I don't know, I don't know. It's different for me
this year because I'm on the side closest to the
await side. Yeah. So, and especially like the past few
day I can't go in an episode where I like,
(17:14):
don't forget out of where I don't forget how to speak. Anyways,
the past few games there have been a lot of
away people, so that section like I'm literally cheering to
the away people and I'm like, here we go. They're
like boo, And I'm like how many times I hear
(17:38):
go blue? Too many during the machinan game? I mean.
That's the thing is, like all we were in the
Big Ten Conference, so all these amazing teams they have
this these traveling fan bases that travel so well, and
so we get to ours and it's like half and half,
which is unfortunate, but it's fine. Um we do run
on UM. We get to run the team on. The
(17:59):
band comes out, they do all their formations, they kill it.
Of course. UM we're kind of like the ornaments of
that whole production. UM vocabulary. Yeah, and then and then
we have the team run on so there's two run
ons during run on how many times? As I said,
run on so far, lots of running, lots of cardio
asthma everywhere. Yeah, it's rough. So then with like six
(18:22):
minutes ago or maybe like you know, three or four,
you hear that hear that intro, You hear the fire
machines start going off, and you know it's it's game time. UM.
And so then we get to run the team out
of where they're coming out of. UM. That was kind
of scary because it's like you got a bunch of
like three pound athletes behind you and you're like, oh,
(18:43):
I really need to pick it up on this one. UM.
But it's super fun. That's I think that is my
favorite part of game days. I liked doing the run
on last year because I didn't have a flag. I
have a flag this year, and I'm like usually the
O or the E, and so I'm like, I'm in
the back. I'm in the back, and I'm just like
(19:03):
so scared that I'm gonna get you. Hear the steps yeah,
literally literally, like I can smell the smoke from the
fire that's like happening. And last year I was like
at the front and I would just like run. But
the thing I sucked about that is I'd have to
run super fast and then run super fast all the
way back. It's like the full we do the full field. Yeah,
(19:27):
there's a full two D but like literally put me
on the team like offensive line right here. Yeah, what
would you say is the hardest thing about staying engaged
and staying involved why we're out there on the field.
In terms of football, definitely the weather. Weather. It has
(19:47):
a huge impact on like how my game performance is
because it's there have been games where I'm freezing my
butt off. I don't think I'm going to survive games
where I literally had to sit out the last quarter
because it was so hot, and games where I literally
came home and like took a like took a shower
(20:11):
outside because it was raining so hard. Yes, Idaho, Like
there are very few games that are like good weather.
Like the last game we had was good weather, but
it was still a little cold at the prest to
have been Yes, we've gotten lucky. Yeah this has been lucky.
But that made up for Idaho. Yeah, oh my gosh,
(20:32):
talk about so Idaho. It was like was it raining
when we got on the field. It was perfect weather.
That's what I thought. I thought it was nice, and
then something bad just had to happen, and it starts
pouring down rain, like pouring wearing my long lashes, and
(20:54):
I don't know how they stayed on that game, Like
I literally don't know how they stayed on the game.
And my eyes were burning because my last blue was
like running into my eyes and I couldn't see anything,
and I just remember like doing um Alma mater, I think.
And then we went into zombie and I had to
(21:16):
get into a prep hold a sign and yes, I'm
pretty sure I did a stunt. Did I don't remember
cut that out because I don't remember if that's true,
but I'm pretty sure I got into a stet. Yeah,
well we did shoulder sets, so you probably did. It
was just a prep. Yeah, I don't know. I have
(21:40):
to look back at that. But that that run on
pre game was so fun. I was so scared I
was going to fall. I was like changing the ilex,
spreading my toes, like trying to run on like my
flat footage so I didn't slip. So self aware of
how my feet are moving, socks are like soaking way
(22:03):
I can feel it like slashing around in my shoes,
like absolutely disturbing my My shoes smoked so bad after
that game. Here's the thing about like the extreme weather problems,
you know what I mean with with football. Most of
the time, when it's really hot, people will stay. Uh
that's you know, most people can handle that. Um. When
it rains, people usually leave. We don't get a lot
(22:25):
of people to stay. Or when it's like super cold. Um,
here's something that we can't do is leave. You know,
we are locked in start to finish and so um.
And not only just they are on the sidelines. We
have to be engaged. We have to be calling cheers,
we have to be stunting when it's safe to do so. Um.
You know, we have to be for them tumbling Uh
(22:48):
me not so much getting there almost there, um, trying
to get there. I'll get it. Um. But you know,
like it doesn't matter really what the weather is. Like,
we have to do our job either way. That's how
Julie always presented to us. It's like it's not exactly
just showing up, It's a job, you know what I mean.
So I think that that's been something that kind of
(23:11):
gets misconstrued from fans to us just like, you know,
because I'll be done and I'll be exhausted and my
parents be in town. They're like, all right, how was that.
I'm like, I just I just need to sleep, dude.
I feel so bad when like my parents come and
want to like spend time with me after a game,
because I will like pass out in like a five
(23:32):
minute car. Right. Well, it's also just like I've been
on so long. Yeah, I just knew, like, yeah, I'm
just stare at a wall for a couple. Yeah, let's
talk about a third quarter. So what we do here
at I you tradition that our cheering program does is
we actually go into the stands during the third quarter
(23:54):
to rile up the crowd, uh large or small. We
are there to try and get the crowd involved and
keep the crowd involved after halftime. Um. And so that
is actually one of the hardest things to do because
you can't stunt because we're on the steps. Um. You
have to call cheers that are crowd effective because you're
(24:14):
right next to them and if you're just shouting nonsense,
they're not gonna listen. Um. What's funny about the guys
is we have to like kind of move our megs
to a spot where we're not like deafening the person
right next to us. So I'm kind of usually just
pointing it straight up in the air. So I don't
know how much that's even heard. You guys are pretty loud,
(24:34):
can you guys hear us on the other side? So
what the what our two teams do is Cream will
go on one side, Crimsin will go on the other side. Um,
I've actually heard you guys a couple of times where
you can hear us pretty well, at least the guys.
I can hear the guys like insanely well, like literally
two rows down for me. Okay, I ton't know is
(24:55):
that effective? Okay? So and we do that and and
that's really I think it's fun. I mean I always
try and find, like, uh, you know, family or you know,
a group of people to talk to and just be like, hey,
how's it going. Sometimes I really like talking to the
away fans, just being like, so, why did you drive
(25:15):
six hours to watch this game? What are you doing
in my home? Yeah? Most of them, vast majority are
really nice. You get a couple of people who you
know are just actually had quite a few mean people recently,
but the way people are fans fans, well, it might
because we're losing. I had one guy I was doing, um,
(25:41):
I think let's go Hoosiers, and this guy behind me
was like, put the palm down, and I was like,
I don't even want to do this anymore. I catch
you in now they can. I can get a little
hostile in the in the stands. I've it's tough going
(26:03):
into the students like to do that because it's very
dependent on how we're playing, on what their mood's gonna
look like. Um. So you know, I've been in there
one time. We're down by a good amount and it's
just like your cheer into a brick wall, and they
just don't want you there. I don't want you there.
They don't really want to be yelled at. They don't,
(26:24):
so that kind of gets a little awkward. But again,
for the most part, people have been nice. People always
want to yell in the megaphones, and that's always a
liability because you never really know what they're gonna say
or they're gonna take it and run. Um. I like
hold it out to people and say you can't say
any bad words and you can't hold onto it and
they'll like try and grab it, and I'm just like
gripping as hard as I can. I was like, please
(26:46):
don't run away with this, um so. But I mean
I think most part our students are super super nice
to the cheerleaders the students. The students get it, you know,
because it we're students as well, So I think that's nice.
Um But yeah, football's football is a lot, I think
all in all, the just say eight hour days, that's
(27:07):
like minimum. Yeah. Yeah, it's like a like a literal nine. So, uh,
what's been really tough for me with grad school has
been just taking a whole day out of my week
to not be able to work on really anything because
afterwards I'm spent. You know, there's not I don't have
(27:28):
a lot of energy to do anything else. So can
you imagine doing homework after your football game? I have
before I had to. Um But yeah, I think football
is just fun. It's just a whole different animal, and
it's worth it because just I mean, we're talking about
Big ten football, you know, it's it's some of the
best atmospheres that you can imagine. Um So. And then
(27:52):
when we come back, let's shift gears a little bit.
Let's go inside to our climate controlled Simon's Got Assembly Hall. Yes,
we'll take you through some of the ins and outs
of everything that we have to do for basketball. Yeah. So, um,
you are listening to Beyond the Megaphone. I'm Nathan and
I'm Cassidy. This is the College Athletes Network. Yeah, welcome
(28:18):
back to Beyond the Megaphone on the College Athletes Network.
This is Nathan and I'm Cassidy. Subscribe to our podcast
so you never miss another episode. Hate your voice, pick
the wrong activity to do. Apparently I can't speak either,
so it's fine, it's fine, you're doing great. Um. So,
(28:42):
during our break, we were looking at some of the
photos from last season and we stumbled across the parade
and I don't think we ever even mentioned the parade
so far. The parade happened about two months after the
crazy March Madness moment, and we just want to take
an aside real quick and like say, that was like
the craziest experience ever. Um, I think, like genuinely top
(29:07):
five cheer moments ever, and that's above like several of
the March Maddess moments, you know, just because it was
so fun and like we got there and well, originally
we like, we had no idea we're going to be
in a car. We were in a car by the way. Um.
But we got there and went to the car and
(29:34):
they're like, okay, so you guys will be here and
then your teammates will be behind you. We were like
who boa wa what because we had twenty people with us,
of our of our team. And it was cool because
it was like the first year I you cheer had
its own float and everything like that. And then we
get to the car and it says casting and Nathan
Heroes of March Madness. I was like, hold on, woo woaho,
what's what's going on here? Um? So, like it was weird,
(29:58):
but it was fun and like I think everyone could
tell that it was like making us a little bit
yeah weird. So there wasn't a need for us to
be like hey, like, you know, this wouldn't be our choice,
because that's the thing that we wanted to really make
clear when that all that happened was we're still on
a team. This is not you know, me, it's not her,
you know, It's just something that happened and it's great
(30:22):
for our program. So in like examples like this, like
we got to do that because of that experience. So
but just so fun Like the pictures are amazing. I
don't know why I haven't posted any yet, but um yeah,
just the ones in a lifetime experience. Um, it felt
like a little celebrity for a couple of minutes. So
(30:42):
anyway back to game day, um, because we do yeah,
he's yeah, we're just normally not like in the ind
f parade. But anyway to basketball. So once you hear
welcome to the jungle this game time, Yeah, we're ready
to roll. We run the team out, we get into
(31:02):
that circle, we get in the way of the opposing team,
no matter who we're playing, and I love it. It's
so funny. Um yeah, it's probably scary for y'all, but
it's really funny. When they're looking straight ahead, they don't
even see you guys. No. Um, So, cheering basketball is
(31:25):
a little different than cheering football or really anything else.
I love basketball. That's my favorite thing to cheer. Okay,
so tell me about like some of the differences that
are necessary when you're cheering basketball versus anything else, specifically
Indiana basketball. Um. I think one thing that makes our
programs so unique just like and I know it makes
(31:47):
us unique because when we have done tournaments, I've seen
like the other cheer teams and how they handle basketball. Um,
we are cheering of the time, like there is no
time to breathe. It's it's constant yelling and screaming and
getting excited and getting the crowd excited because you're like
(32:10):
three ft away from the people, like they are watching
your every move that they're hearing every word you say
is super important. Sorry, Simbly. Hall is not a big stadium, no,
not at all. Everybody's on top of each other. Everybody's
trying to see the court and we're all in the
mix um and just right up on top of people,
(32:32):
like face to face most of the game. And something
that's really cool about are you is they give the
cheer team almost every time out the entire floor. We
grew out there, and we take this space that is
free real estate every time out, and like that's something
that is not common, you know, like they might get
a corner, you know, but literally every teav TV time out,
(32:56):
we got routines, we got pyramids, we've got things that
we're gonna do something, prepare for everything, and all of
those have to be different than the ones we do
for football because you can't be over what too high,
you can't do baskets, you can't do like a lot
of release stunts. You can't do any like too to
(33:16):
one pyramids one one pyramids. It can't be two and
a half high. It's gotta be just a Yeah. There's
a lot of different like rules and stuff with the
legality of basketball cheer, and it's similar. The stunting and
time outs I say, I will say are very similar
to like what a high school team would experience. The differences.
(33:40):
It's just constant, NonStop, always doing something and like you
have to be very quick on your feet to like
remember what's going on, because these time outs aren't like
terribly long, but they also like we we jam packed
them with stuff. Is there's two minutes of just constant moving,
go go go. Um. Yeah. I think that's where I
(34:05):
always think that this is where I You Cheer thrives
because all the other teams they do all this extra
stuff whatever there's I don't think there's many programs who
have better game day presence and experience than I You Cheer.
I mean, we are constantly going yelling, screaming, getting people involved.
Me and Mel loved finding like little nuggets who are
(34:27):
courtside or like first couple of rows, and during our
time out, like when we had the free time, we
can run over and say hey, how are you, and
you know, take a little picture and like that was
that was like the best. I love doing that UM,
but just being the presence, always being on UM and
keeping everybody engaged, because those time outs can't get long,
like you said, so it's our job to be like,
(34:49):
all right, we're still engaged. Let's go, We're gonna win
this game. And then you have the greatest time out
and all of the n C double A the one
and only William Tell, Yes, William Tell, I didn't. I
don't do a flag in William Tel. I didn't last
year and I'm not doing it this year. I've made
that happen because I can't physically do it like I
(35:11):
will happen as an attack thoughts too much for me.
It can get congested in there too, so no, no, no no, no, no,
no flag for me. So I'm on the side after
we do the stunt and like do a little like
one two things I moved to like the sides and
like clap through the fight, clap through the school song, um,
(35:33):
and then do school song the Perdue game when we
did William Tell and I was like center of the
court for that. I literally felt like everyone was clapping
for me, like I am the only reason they're watching
Williams Tell right now, You're on the only reason they're
at the game. I'm literally the only reason that that moment, Like,
(35:56):
I literally was like I'm I'm saying literally so much.
Literally literally, No. I was looking around because I clapped
through for the first like two times and I was like, Wow,
They're all looking at me and only me. This is
my stage, Like hello, that's a pretty common cheerleader. That
(36:20):
was a very like, very cheer little moment. No. So
I have one of the big flags for William Tell
that can get along, that can get a little a
little much. We're because we go through the song wim
tell it. It goes through that whole song and then
you play school song twice. Can you talk about the
transition though, like that transition from William tad to the
school song smooth, flawless, smooth, shoutout band again and again
(36:45):
kill it William. So we go there and it transitions
to the school song and um me and last year
with Ethan that she was gonna be a JP Um.
We're just running the whole time and waving the big
old flag. I always try and find how close I
can wave that flag to the away team when they're
in the time out without hitting them, because that would
(37:06):
be bad. Um. But just like making making it known that, oh, hey,
this is giant I you flag is all up in
your girl, just just for fun of it, you know,
just to get in their heads just a time. College
is happening right now, right and they're missing it. So
that's a little disrespectful, but whatever. Um, yeah, all at all.
(37:27):
And the biggest thing about the whole point of this
episode is just to talk about there's a lot that
goes into producing game day and putting this product out
that is I You cheer. Um. You know, I'm a
bit biased being an I cheer leader, but I would
say we have some of the richest tradition out of
all teams. That's what I love about it. I love
(37:50):
the like traditional, this is what we've been doing for
such a long time. Like the fact that our coach, Julie,
who has been here for three decades has been doing
some of the same things in excellence, you know, and
it has been done in excellence for the past three decades,
and now it's up to us to remain at such
(38:11):
a high caliber. That's pretty cool, um. And I think
that that's like something that you know, maybe people who
aren't involved with YER don't really understand. It's just because
you know, you wear that uniform, you wear that non
breathable fabric in ninety degrees or in a packed assembly hall,
um for the tradition, you know, and just to say
(38:34):
that you're a part of something bigger than yourself. Um,
because it's it's stretches not only to the active members
of the cheer team, it's all the ones who've been
here before us and all the ones will be here
after us. Um. So I think it's pretty cool. Long
Live William Tell. As always, thanks for listening. To be
(38:55):
on the Megaphone on the College Athletes Network. Please subscribe
so you don't miss another episode. I am Cassidy and
I'm Nathan and we'll talk to you soon m hm.
Beyond the Megaphone has been a presentation of I Heart
Radio and the College Athletes Network
Beyond the Megaphone is a production of I Heart Radio
and the College Athletes Network. Hey everybody, this is Nathan
and you're listening to Beyond the Megaphone on the College
Athletes Network. Please subscribe to the podcast that you never
miss a new episode. This can easily be done via
the I Heart Radio app. Also, you can find me
(00:25):
on Instagram and Twitter at our Nathan Paris and you
can find me on Instagram at Cassidy with a double
yse Nie stuff. We got that Twitter? Have you No?
I actually went on my Twitter, um today. I have
a Twitter Twitter, but it's I haven't used it since.
(00:47):
So a lot of my Twitter feed is like mag
convoys like nash Gar and Cameron Dallan direction one direction
type beat. So Cassie, how are you doing. I'm doing amazing. Yeah,
living a dream. I'm living a dream. So what's really
(01:11):
nice about me and Castie's lives is we are constantly busy, um,
which is good. We we do it to ourselves, you
know what I mean. I would not change it by
any means, but it definitely gets a little. I blame
nobody but myself. What's that? I blame nobody but myself? Oh, yeah, yah, yeah, yeah,
this is a million percent in my fault. So hey,
we want to talk about expectation versus reality in terms
(01:36):
of the world of game day cheerleading, because a lot
of times, you know, we're sharing for the fans and
all the fancy is a bunch of people and these
weird costumes being really loud and really extra for no reason, right,
I mean that's kind of like the basic like, oh
here come, the cheerleader is always doing the most. So basically,
(02:00):
what we want to do today is talk about all
of the different things at or kind of behind the scenes,
things that maybe most people don't see or don't think
about when we do what we do. So what the
ladies get to do is get up two hours before
we're supposed to be there and put on what's called
(02:22):
game day ready. Castie, would you explain to them what
game day ready is. See, I feel like I'm not
the right person to talk to you about this because
I do my game day makeup every day, but today, um,
like I can get ready pretty fast, but like a
lot of the girls don't wear makeup every day, so
it takes them like a little bit longer. I'm just
like used to I'm used to slang so hard every day. Okay,
(02:46):
so you got you like your own sleigh routine. Yeah, yeah,
what's your fastest time? M five minutes? Not by choice?
Explain that for me? Um, what was that like the
second game, second second football game of this season, so
(03:09):
we got to be there a fifteen and yeah, that's
a whole another situation. But um, I did not wake up.
I didn't wake up like that was not like I
was asleep. I could have slept for so long and
I don't know how I got up. And it's by
(03:30):
the grace of God that I set an alarm for
eight am because I was planning on leaving at eight am,
So I was like, you're I gotta be out the
door alarm. That was my like okay, you gotta you
gotta go, like you gotta go now. No that it
turned out to be my no, you gotta get out
of bed alarm. And I literally remember I was putting
(03:53):
on my uniform, putting my hair in, like my my
bow in, and also like simultaneously like letting my lashes dry.
Like I was a mess. And I think I left
my room at like eight oh seven. So you did
all that in seven minutes and I still slid, like
(04:15):
I literally ate that game up. Well, I was like,
I was thinking about like when you showed up and
you told us, You're like, yeah, I get up ten
minutes ago. I was like, there's no way because it
looked like normal. Luckily, I normally, for at least like
morning games, and usually for um like afternoon games, I'll
curl my hair the night before, so then I just
(04:36):
have to like, oh this, Like I just like huh.
But yeah, Luckily that night before I curled my hair,
so that was out of the way, and then I
will say I didn't wear any foundation that day. So crazy. God,
(04:58):
I hate the guy's routines so much. I was, um,
j C, he's the night, not tonight, the day of
the last game we just had when we have to
be there at like and Jonah had just gotten on
the shower and I was like, we have to leave soon.
Like you realize that Jona is a funny example because
(05:19):
he doesn't have to do his hair. He's like trained
his story to do exactly what it needs to do.
Like it looks styled, don't even wrong, it looks style,
it looks good. But it's like he's trained his hair
too dry and exactly what it looks amazing. Yeah, that's
so funny. Yeah, I mean if it's uh, we gotta
I'm like, um five, I'll start like that's insane. It's
(05:42):
as you put on your uniform and and I'm a
bad example because I like to, you know, make sure
all my hair is looking good or everything. Um. But yeah,
it probably takes like three minutes, you know. Three. Yeah,
it must have to shave. That's a different story, but
like ten. Yeah, your life is so hard. Yeah, it's tough.
(06:07):
So after we all get ready, after we all get there,
we go into the stadium. For football, we use the
corners locker room. For basketball, we have our own locker room,
our locker rooms in the Simbly Hall, so it makes
it nice and easy. Um, and we just hang out,
you know, vibe. Um. I usually in charge of the
music because I feel like most people come in n
(06:31):
not really ready to roll, and I'm like that has
a change, So play some good music, get everybody going,
act a little bit over the top, just to get
everybody awake most of the time. Um. And then we
go to let's let's go football first, Yeah, go to
the walk that actually might be one of my favorite
(06:52):
parts of game day. I think that's my favorite part
of game really, like overall, it's definitely top three for me,
like overall, as in football season or like basketball and
football season, football season. Probably, yeah, at least this year,
walk us to what is the walk because now you
have both perspectives, do have both perspectives. Ten minutes prior
(07:17):
to like the team walking out, Um, there's the Red Steppers,
which is our dance team, and then there's our team,
and then the band is behind us and the band
the Marching hundred, Marching hundred, yes band they like, will
(07:37):
play um different you know band chance and stuff like that,
and we'll cheer along with them. We'll do some cheers
here and there and just be super obnoxious until it's
time for us to leave. So the cream co ed
team will lead the walk, um, and they'll join in
(08:01):
the pathway at the very end and just you know,
cheer on the football team as they're walking into Memorial Stadium.
And then a Crimson Ladies will stand on the side
of the stairs and just like cheer along to Indiana
or Indiana, which is our school song as the team
boks by. So you guys don't move when they walk.
(08:23):
We do that straight to the tail game. I didn't
even know that because I can't see like that far
down The path we're talking about is like about a
hundred yards. Um, so maybe not like me, I have
no concept of it's pretty far, and so when there's
all these people, it's like you can't really see what's
going on. I always try and like find like the
end of the football line because I'm like, I can
(08:45):
only say, like, let's go Indiana. So many times it
was pretty cool because we get too high five other
players and it's like, I'm not Gonnas. The last game,
Tom Allen gave Jaden a high five let's go, and
things like the first thing that happened Tom Allen. I
love Tom Alan every time he comes over and gives
(09:07):
all the cheerleader sci fis before the game. It's pretty cool.
Just a very down Toroth guy. Um okay, So the walk,
that's what happens there. I really enjoy it. I love
hearing the band because that's my roots, and I always
get to see them march on. I get to see
them march afterwards and get to uh see all my
(09:27):
friends who are still in the band, which is really fun. Um,
let's talk about when we have some of the media there,
because really what I you like to utilize us as
an extension of the marketing department because we're all about
you and we're always over the top, so it's like perfect, Um,
we'll have big ten game day college game day. We
(09:50):
had that one once last year I think, um, and
then recently we had Fox Sports come, which was really cool.
I didn't get to go to that didn't get really
what do you do with the alumni them? That was
actually super cool. It was really sweet to there, Like
it was just it was a cheer alumni was just
alumni alumni in general. But they like loved that we
(10:11):
were there. They loved talking to us. And I got
to talk to like a lot of really cool people
and actually quite a few of them there had like
girls who had cheered um at I you before. Yeah,
it was it was really cool, super sweet people umly
appreciated us. It was very low key, just like us
(10:31):
walking around as there. Um, they had like breakfast foods
and it smells so good. Oh my gosh, it smells
so freaking good over there. But um, it was really fun.
Well okay, so Fox Sports was pretty cool because I
mean you would not believe the cameras that were over there.
I mean probably. I was talking to Ryan about it
(10:54):
and he was like, was that so cool? And I
was like, Brian, I wasn't there. I wasn't even there. Okay,
come on, Brian ran But so they had like, um,
the stage that was like, you know, a little football
field was the stage, and then they had like the
Fox Sports robot guy out there. It was like doing
his thing. So that was kind of cool. Um, there
(11:18):
was an unfortunate amount of Michigan fans that had like
snuck into that area, so like it was almost split.
I was like, are you kidding me? Um? But we
we got to do all that, and then we were
on the TV and you could see like what was live,
so that was kind of keeping you involved. Um. I
was like right behind Hayden, so it didn't really get
(11:39):
a lot of FaceTime there. I was lately behind Hayden
and JP. I was like, great, so I'm not gonna
be seen at all on the TV, just my forehead
just peeking over JP's shoulder. So it's fine. Those kind
of things before the game is just something that it
really just keeps us involved all three hours before kickoff.
(12:02):
I mean you think about we're pretty much going NonStop
from if it's a new kickoff, we got to essentially
be there at at the latest, right and then we
started nine and we're on our feet, moving running around
meeting people. We're in the like the tailgate lots and
things like that, like saying hi to people. Some you got.
(12:23):
You get the little nuggets that come up and want
to take a picture, and that's always so fun. Um.
The little boys like parents are like, dona picture and
they're like no, they're just so embarrassing. Mom. Yeah, um
posted up exactly. And uh, Sam and Jet are always
playing pick up football with the little guys are always
(12:44):
doing something active. It's scary a break, just relax, you know.
Those boys eat that up. Oh my gosh. That's so
that's like their best like that's their best life. Right. Yeah.
They're like, yeah, the football game was fun, but I
get to play with the so um really one here
(13:06):
that's super fun. Um. So when we talk about the
pregame stuff for basketball, we do this thing where we
it's kind of like basically what you did for the
Oleminal Association. Uh on that football game, we go into
what's called Cook Hall. Um. It's where a lot of
the alumni and donors will go before the game and
(13:27):
we have a little pep talk by some of the
assistant coaches, and then we're all in there intermingling with people,
UM saying Hey, this year, I'm gonna be handing out
my business cards as I'm walking to be like, hey,
maybe you want to hire me. I'm actually looking for
a job right now. I'm actually open to the job
search right now if you were interested in hiring a cheerleader. Um.
(13:49):
But no, that's super fun and it's just like really
cool to like not have to be on but like
still be cheerleading mode with just a couple of people,
you know, face to face instead of just like looking
up into the sea of red. That's kind of what
makes it worth it. Definitely makes it more tiring, but
I think it makes it worth it because that's where
you get all the like really cool one on one
moments with some people, and that's the things you kind
(14:12):
of remember more so than just you know, everything else
that we will talk about when we come back. You
see that glided over to that. Um. When we come back,
we're gonna talk about football game day. Okay, we're gonna
talk about when we get into the stadium, UM, talk
about the run on with the band, Shout out the band, um,
(14:35):
and just all the stuff that we're doing. UM from
the first quarter of the fourth quarter. So you are
listening to Beyond the Megaphone. I'm Nathan and this is
the College Athletes Network. Welcome back to Beyond the Megaphone
on the College Athletes Network. This is Cassidy and this
(14:58):
is Nathan. Subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss
another show already. So we're in the stadium, everybody's ready
to roll, and you hear the drum cadenced. I cannot
tell you how hype every time. I could listen to
it a million times, and every time when I hear
(15:20):
that one, two or three or four, bam, and then
everybody goes, whoa, you know what I'm saying, Oh my gosh,
it's And I have the best job in the whole
stadium this year because I get to run on the
all girl Crimson six time national champions soon to be
seven on the way UM every Saturday. So that's like
(15:44):
the coolest thing in the world. UM. It's also nice
because it's like, oh my gosh, there's cast they remember
when we were on the same team. Um, but also
because I'm Crimson's biggest fan, true or false, Okay, just
making sure. So that's super fun. But me and JP,
me and j Pizzle get to run the big flags on.
That's been like the dreams since I got to college,
(16:06):
since I was in the band. Literally, that was like
one of the selling points when I was trying to
figure out if I wanted to do band or Yeah,
the big flag I was like, I want to do that.
It looks so dope. I want to hold a flag
dot weighs way too much and wave it all over
the place in Memorial Studium pretty much. That was sophomore
year Nathan stot process. Um, so we do that, we
(16:30):
get to we get to run everybody on. We're down
in the front um. We try and get that side involved.
We call that the alumni side. That's where a lot
of the parents and alumni and just g a people
are so like they might not be as invested in
the sports as maybe the other side, which is all students,
and they're just hyped up ready to roll. So but
(16:52):
they still do a good job. Every time, you know,
we're down there. They're pretty interactive, I think. I mean,
I don't know, I don't know. It's different for me
this year because I'm on the side closest to the
await side. Yeah. So, and especially like the past few
day I can't go in an episode where I like,
(17:14):
don't forget out of where I don't forget how to speak. Anyways,
the past few games there have been a lot of
away people, so that section like I'm literally cheering to
the away people and I'm like, here we go. They're
like boo, And I'm like how many times I hear
(17:38):
go blue? Too many during the machinan game? I mean.
That's the thing is, like all we were in the
Big Ten Conference, so all these amazing teams they have
this these traveling fan bases that travel so well, and
so we get to ours and it's like half and half,
which is unfortunate, but it's fine. Um we do run
on UM. We get to run the team on. The
(17:59):
band comes out, they do all their formations, they kill it.
Of course. UM we're kind of like the ornaments of
that whole production. UM vocabulary. Yeah, and then and then
we have the team run on so there's two run
ons during run on how many times? As I said,
run on so far, lots of running, lots of cardio
asthma everywhere. Yeah, it's rough. So then with like six
(18:22):
minutes ago or maybe like you know, three or four,
you hear that hear that intro, You hear the fire
machines start going off, and you know it's it's game time. UM.
And so then we get to run the team out
of where they're coming out of. UM. That was kind
of scary because it's like you got a bunch of
like three pound athletes behind you and you're like, oh,
(18:43):
I really need to pick it up on this one. UM.
But it's super fun. That's I think that is my
favorite part of game days. I liked doing the run
on last year because I didn't have a flag. I
have a flag this year, and I'm like usually the
O or the E, and so I'm like, I'm in
the back. I'm in the back, and I'm just like
(19:03):
so scared that I'm gonna get you. Hear the steps yeah,
literally literally, like I can smell the smoke from the
fire that's like happening. And last year I was like
at the front and I would just like run. But
the thing I sucked about that is I'd have to
run super fast and then run super fast all the
way back. It's like the full we do the full field. Yeah,
(19:27):
there's a full two D but like literally put me
on the team like offensive line right here. Yeah, what
would you say is the hardest thing about staying engaged
and staying involved why we're out there on the field.
In terms of football, definitely the weather. Weather. It has
(19:47):
a huge impact on like how my game performance is
because it's there have been games where I'm freezing my
butt off. I don't think I'm going to survive games
where I literally had to sit out the last quarter
because it was so hot, and games where I literally
came home and like took a like took a shower
(20:11):
outside because it was raining so hard. Yes, Idaho, Like
there are very few games that are like good weather.
Like the last game we had was good weather, but
it was still a little cold at the prest to
have been Yes, we've gotten lucky. Yeah this has been lucky.
But that made up for Idaho. Yeah, oh my gosh,
(20:32):
talk about so Idaho. It was like was it raining
when we got on the field. It was perfect weather.
That's what I thought. I thought it was nice, and
then something bad just had to happen, and it starts
pouring down rain, like pouring wearing my long lashes, and
(20:54):
I don't know how they stayed on that game, Like
I literally don't know how they stayed on the game.
And my eyes were burning because my last blue was
like running into my eyes and I couldn't see anything,
and I just remember like doing um Alma mater, I think.
And then we went into zombie and I had to
(21:16):
get into a prep hold a sign and yes, I'm
pretty sure I did a stunt. Did I don't remember
cut that out because I don't remember if that's true,
but I'm pretty sure I got into a stet. Yeah,
well we did shoulder sets, so you probably did. It
was just a prep. Yeah, I don't know. I have
(21:40):
to look back at that. But that that run on
pre game was so fun. I was so scared I
was going to fall. I was like changing the ilex,
spreading my toes, like trying to run on like my
flat footage so I didn't slip. So self aware of
how my feet are moving, socks are like soaking way
(22:03):
I can feel it like slashing around in my shoes,
like absolutely disturbing my My shoes smoked so bad after
that game. Here's the thing about like the extreme weather problems,
you know what I mean with with football. Most of
the time, when it's really hot, people will stay. Uh
that's you know, most people can handle that. Um. When
it rains, people usually leave. We don't get a lot
(22:25):
of people to stay. Or when it's like super cold. Um,
here's something that we can't do is leave. You know,
we are locked in start to finish and so um.
And not only just they are on the sidelines. We
have to be engaged. We have to be calling cheers,
we have to be stunting when it's safe to do so. Um.
You know, we have to be for them tumbling Uh
(22:48):
me not so much getting there almost there, um, trying
to get there. I'll get it. Um. But you know,
like it doesn't matter really what the weather is. Like,
we have to do our job either way. That's how
Julie always presented to us. It's like it's not exactly
just showing up, It's a job, you know what I mean.
So I think that that's been something that kind of
(23:11):
gets misconstrued from fans to us just like, you know,
because I'll be done and I'll be exhausted and my
parents be in town. They're like, all right, how was that.
I'm like, I just I just need to sleep, dude.
I feel so bad when like my parents come and
want to like spend time with me after a game,
because I will like pass out in like a five
(23:32):
minute car. Right. Well, it's also just like I've been
on so long. Yeah, I just knew, like, yeah, I'm
just stare at a wall for a couple. Yeah, let's
talk about a third quarter. So what we do here
at I you tradition that our cheering program does is
we actually go into the stands during the third quarter
(23:54):
to rile up the crowd, uh large or small. We
are there to try and get the crowd involved and
keep the crowd involved after halftime. Um. And so that
is actually one of the hardest things to do because
you can't stunt because we're on the steps. Um. You
have to call cheers that are crowd effective because you're
(24:14):
right next to them and if you're just shouting nonsense,
they're not gonna listen. Um. What's funny about the guys
is we have to like kind of move our megs
to a spot where we're not like deafening the person
right next to us. So I'm kind of usually just
pointing it straight up in the air. So I don't
know how much that's even heard. You guys are pretty loud,
(24:34):
can you guys hear us on the other side? So
what the what our two teams do is Cream will
go on one side, Crimsin will go on the other side. Um,
I've actually heard you guys a couple of times where
you can hear us pretty well, at least the guys.
I can hear the guys like insanely well, like literally
two rows down for me. Okay, I ton't know is
(24:55):
that effective? Okay? So and we do that and and
that's really I think it's fun. I mean I always
try and find, like, uh, you know, family or you know,
a group of people to talk to and just be like, hey,
how's it going. Sometimes I really like talking to the
away fans, just being like, so, why did you drive
(25:15):
six hours to watch this game? What are you doing
in my home? Yeah? Most of them, vast majority are
really nice. You get a couple of people who you
know are just actually had quite a few mean people recently,
but the way people are fans fans, well, it might
because we're losing. I had one guy I was doing, um,
(25:41):
I think let's go Hoosiers, and this guy behind me
was like, put the palm down, and I was like,
I don't even want to do this anymore. I catch
you in now they can. I can get a little
hostile in the in the stands. I've it's tough going
(26:03):
into the students like to do that because it's very
dependent on how we're playing, on what their mood's gonna
look like. Um. So you know, I've been in there
one time. We're down by a good amount and it's
just like your cheer into a brick wall, and they
just don't want you there. I don't want you there.
They don't really want to be yelled at. They don't,
(26:24):
so that kind of gets a little awkward. But again,
for the most part, people have been nice. People always
want to yell in the megaphones, and that's always a
liability because you never really know what they're gonna say
or they're gonna take it and run. Um. I like
hold it out to people and say you can't say
any bad words and you can't hold onto it and
they'll like try and grab it, and I'm just like
gripping as hard as I can. I was like, please
(26:46):
don't run away with this, um so. But I mean
I think most part our students are super super nice
to the cheerleaders the students. The students get it, you know,
because it we're students as well, So I think that's nice.
Um But yeah, football's football is a lot, I think
all in all, the just say eight hour days, that's
(27:07):
like minimum. Yeah. Yeah, it's like a like a literal nine. So, uh,
what's been really tough for me with grad school has
been just taking a whole day out of my week
to not be able to work on really anything because
afterwards I'm spent. You know, there's not I don't have
(27:28):
a lot of energy to do anything else. So can
you imagine doing homework after your football game? I have
before I had to. Um But yeah, I think football
is just fun. It's just a whole different animal, and
it's worth it because just I mean, we're talking about
Big ten football, you know, it's it's some of the
best atmospheres that you can imagine. Um So. And then
(27:52):
when we come back, let's shift gears a little bit.
Let's go inside to our climate controlled Simon's Got Assembly Hall. Yes,
we'll take you through some of the ins and outs
of everything that we have to do for basketball. Yeah. So, um,
you are listening to Beyond the Megaphone. I'm Nathan and
I'm Cassidy. This is the College Athletes Network. Yeah, welcome
(28:18):
back to Beyond the Megaphone on the College Athletes Network.
This is Nathan and I'm Cassidy. Subscribe to our podcast
so you never miss another episode. Hate your voice, pick
the wrong activity to do. Apparently I can't speak either,
so it's fine, it's fine, you're doing great. Um. So,
(28:42):
during our break, we were looking at some of the
photos from last season and we stumbled across the parade
and I don't think we ever even mentioned the parade
so far. The parade happened about two months after the
crazy March Madness moment, and we just want to take
an aside real quick and like say, that was like
the craziest experience ever. Um, I think, like genuinely top
(29:07):
five cheer moments ever, and that's above like several of
the March Maddess moments, you know, just because it was
so fun and like we got there and well, originally
we like, we had no idea we're going to be
in a car. We were in a car by the way. Um.
But we got there and went to the car and
(29:34):
they're like, okay, so you guys will be here and
then your teammates will be behind you. We were like
who boa wa what because we had twenty people with us,
of our of our team. And it was cool because
it was like the first year I you cheer had
its own float and everything like that. And then we
get to the car and it says casting and Nathan
Heroes of March Madness. I was like, hold on, woo woaho,
what's what's going on here? Um? So, like it was weird,
(29:58):
but it was fun and like I think everyone could
tell that it was like making us a little bit
yeah weird. So there wasn't a need for us to
be like hey, like, you know, this wouldn't be our choice,
because that's the thing that we wanted to really make
clear when that all that happened was we're still on
a team. This is not you know, me, it's not her,
you know, It's just something that happened and it's great
(30:22):
for our program. So in like examples like this, like
we got to do that because of that experience. So
but just so fun Like the pictures are amazing. I
don't know why I haven't posted any yet, but um yeah,
just the ones in a lifetime experience. Um, it felt
like a little celebrity for a couple of minutes. So
(30:42):
anyway back to game day, um, because we do yeah,
he's yeah, we're just normally not like in the ind
f parade. But anyway to basketball. So once you hear
welcome to the jungle this game time, Yeah, we're ready
to roll. We run the team out, we get into
(31:02):
that circle, we get in the way of the opposing team,
no matter who we're playing, and I love it. It's
so funny. Um yeah, it's probably scary for y'all, but
it's really funny. When they're looking straight ahead, they don't
even see you guys. No. Um, So, cheering basketball is
(31:25):
a little different than cheering football or really anything else.
I love basketball. That's my favorite thing to cheer. Okay,
so tell me about like some of the differences that
are necessary when you're cheering basketball versus anything else, specifically
Indiana basketball. Um. I think one thing that makes our
programs so unique just like and I know it makes
(31:47):
us unique because when we have done tournaments, I've seen
like the other cheer teams and how they handle basketball. Um,
we are cheering of the time, like there is no
time to breathe. It's it's constant yelling and screaming and
getting excited and getting the crowd excited because you're like
(32:10):
three ft away from the people, like they are watching
your every move that they're hearing every word you say
is super important. Sorry, Simbly. Hall is not a big stadium, no,
not at all. Everybody's on top of each other. Everybody's
trying to see the court and we're all in the
mix um and just right up on top of people,
(32:32):
like face to face most of the game. And something
that's really cool about are you is they give the
cheer team almost every time out the entire floor. We
grew out there, and we take this space that is
free real estate every time out, and like that's something
that is not common, you know, like they might get
a corner, you know, but literally every teav TV time out,
(32:56):
we got routines, we got pyramids, we've got things that
we're gonna do something, prepare for everything, and all of
those have to be different than the ones we do
for football because you can't be over what too high,
you can't do baskets, you can't do like a lot
of release stunts. You can't do any like too to
(33:16):
one pyramids one one pyramids. It can't be two and
a half high. It's gotta be just a Yeah. There's
a lot of different like rules and stuff with the
legality of basketball cheer, and it's similar. The stunting and
time outs I say, I will say are very similar
to like what a high school team would experience. The differences.
(33:40):
It's just constant, NonStop, always doing something and like you
have to be very quick on your feet to like
remember what's going on, because these time outs aren't like
terribly long, but they also like we we jam packed
them with stuff. Is there's two minutes of just constant moving,
go go go. Um. Yeah. I think that's where I
(34:05):
always think that this is where I You Cheer thrives
because all the other teams they do all this extra
stuff whatever there's I don't think there's many programs who
have better game day presence and experience than I You Cheer.
I mean, we are constantly going yelling, screaming, getting people involved.
Me and Mel loved finding like little nuggets who are
(34:27):
courtside or like first couple of rows, and during our
time out, like when we had the free time, we
can run over and say hey, how are you, and
you know, take a little picture and like that was
that was like the best. I love doing that UM,
but just being the presence, always being on UM and
keeping everybody engaged, because those time outs can't get long,
like you said, so it's our job to be like,
(34:49):
all right, we're still engaged. Let's go, We're gonna win
this game. And then you have the greatest time out
and all of the n C double A the one
and only William Tell, Yes, William Tell, I didn't. I
don't do a flag in William Tel. I didn't last
year and I'm not doing it this year. I've made
that happen because I can't physically do it like I
(35:11):
will happen as an attack thoughts too much for me.
It can get congested in there too, so no, no, no no, no, no,
no flag for me. So I'm on the side after
we do the stunt and like do a little like
one two things I moved to like the sides and
like clap through the fight, clap through the school song, um,
(35:33):
and then do school song the Perdue game when we
did William Tell and I was like center of the
court for that. I literally felt like everyone was clapping
for me, like I am the only reason they're watching
Williams Tell right now, You're on the only reason they're
at the game. I'm literally the only reason that that moment, Like,
(35:56):
I literally was like I'm I'm saying literally so much.
Literally literally, No. I was looking around because I clapped
through for the first like two times and I was like, Wow,
They're all looking at me and only me. This is
my stage, Like hello, that's a pretty common cheerleader. That
(36:20):
was a very like, very cheer little moment. No. So
I have one of the big flags for William Tell
that can get along, that can get a little a
little much. We're because we go through the song wim
tell it. It goes through that whole song and then
you play school song twice. Can you talk about the
transition though, like that transition from William tad to the
school song smooth, flawless, smooth, shoutout band again and again
(36:45):
kill it William. So we go there and it transitions
to the school song and um me and last year
with Ethan that she was gonna be a JP Um.
We're just running the whole time and waving the big
old flag. I always try and find how close I
can wave that flag to the away team when they're
in the time out without hitting them, because that would
(37:06):
be bad. Um. But just like making making it known that, oh, hey,
this is giant I you flag is all up in
your girl, just just for fun of it, you know,
just to get in their heads just a time. College
is happening right now, right and they're missing it. So
that's a little disrespectful, but whatever. Um, yeah, all at all.
(37:27):
And the biggest thing about the whole point of this
episode is just to talk about there's a lot that
goes into producing game day and putting this product out
that is I You cheer. Um. You know, I'm a
bit biased being an I cheer leader, but I would
say we have some of the richest tradition out of
all teams. That's what I love about it. I love
(37:50):
the like traditional, this is what we've been doing for
such a long time. Like the fact that our coach, Julie,
who has been here for three decades has been doing
some of the same things in excellence, you know, and
it has been done in excellence for the past three decades,
and now it's up to us to remain at such
(38:11):
a high caliber. That's pretty cool, um. And I think
that that's like something that you know, maybe people who
aren't involved with YER don't really understand. It's just because
you know, you wear that uniform, you wear that non
breathable fabric in ninety degrees or in a packed assembly hall,
um for the tradition, you know, and just to say
(38:34):
that you're a part of something bigger than yourself. Um,
because it's it's stretches not only to the active members
of the cheer team, it's all the ones who've been
here before us and all the ones will be here
after us. Um. So I think it's pretty cool. Long
Live William Tell. As always, thanks for listening. To be
(38:55):
on the Megaphone on the College Athletes Network. Please subscribe
so you don't miss another episode. I am Cassidy and
I'm Nathan and we'll talk to you soon m hm.
Beyond the Megaphone has been a presentation of I Heart
Radio and the College Athletes Network
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