Campus Cheerleaders Question Their Place at CSUMB

Blake Northey, Staff Reporter

blake_northey@csumb.edu

April 7, 2008

In the fall of 2006, the CSU Monterey Bay (CSUMB) cheer team learned the school had adopted a policy requiring cheerleading activities to be supervised by a safety-certified coach. Without missing a step or jump in their gymnastic cheering routines, the team quickly located a coach, Sarah Diehl, who met the school’s certification requirement. Diehl is certified through the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators (AACCA). With over twelve years of coaching experience in the competitive world of cheerleading, the CSUMB cheer team was fortunate to find Diehl who has been with the CSUMB cheer team since October 2006. 

The CSUMB cheerleading team cheers for both men’s and women’s basketball games in the late fall, winter and spring. Coach Diehl said, “Since CSUMB does not have a football team, the cheerleaders have plenty of time to practice.” Coach Diehl would like the cheer team “to get more floor time.” 

James Bernard, a CSUMB junior Kinesiology major and captain of the cheer team stated, “The program has been getting bigger and better every year.” Like Diehl, Bernard is also a certified coach through the AACCA and this will be his second season as captain of the team. “We plan on attending Nationals,” said Bernard in reference to the various regional and national cheerleading competitions held each year. 

Cheerleading stunts and gymnastics are very athletic activities but Bernard expressed, “It [cheerleading] is not athletics, not quite activities.” Coach Diehl agreed with Bernard around the seeming ambiguity of cheerleading, “I get paid through athletics, but the team is not recognized by activities or athletics.” 

The coach and captain of the cheerleading team are hampered in their definition of cheerleading, specifically in terms of whether cheerleading is an activity or an athletic sport. It was not clear if they are undecided or if they are waiting for an administrative decision. Both Diehl and Bernard indicated that there was supposed to be a meeting to discuss the status of the cheer team. 

Regardless of the cheer team’s status as an activity or as an athletic sport, the CSUMB cheerleading team practices year round to cheer on Otter sports and enter cheer competitions on behalf of CSUMB. Anyone wanting more information on the co-ed cheer team or interested in trying out for the 2008-09 season should visit the cheer webpage at riptideallstars.com.