Along with their passion for the sport, the cheerleaders of Salt Lake Community College combine athletic prowess and camaraderie while performing at Bruin games and cheer competitions.
SLCC cheer coach Erika Wilde encourages her squad, who practices twice a week in the Lifetime Activities Center on the Taylorsville Redwood campus, to adopt a mindset focused on continuous improvement, while safely performing stunts.
“Just like any other sport, it is important [that the athletes] are in shape, endurance-wise and strength-wise,” Wilde said. “We’re tossing people high in the air, so we have to make sure they are strong enough to catch them. I want [the cheerleaders] to have a growth mindset – always looking for ways to grow and get better.”
Typical cheer practice consists of warm-ups, stretching, running laps around the gym and tumbling exercises.
“With cheerleading, there are a lot of aspects: tumble, stunts [and] pyramid building. Then whatever we are working on [for] competition or game day,” Wilde said.
According to Wilde, the team has a strong rapport with one another, and her captains contribute significantly to the harmony.
“My captains play a huge role in that,” Wilde said. “They are great about inviting people to do things outside of practices, games and performances. Together they do get along well.”
Bonding through challenges
SLCC sophomore Aaliyah Mills recently transitioned from competitive gymnastics to cheerleading. She found a renewed sense of identity through the sport.
“Cheer brought back a normalcy for me,” Mills said. “It is way more mental than physical … your mind can go a little bit farther.”
Mills further explained her decision to pursue cheer, saying, “Cheer is always evolving [with] trying to get new skills and excel in the sport.”
Fellow Bruin sophomore Joao Silva has been involved with cheer since his twin sister encouraged him to join the high school squad. He likes the challenges that come with the exercises.
“There are physical challenges with my wrists and fingers when stunting and tumbling,” Silva said.
Silva, who is studying business at SLCC, also emphasized the importance of receiving mental support from teammates.
“Mentally, we are [about] team effort; we lift each other up and emphasize the family,” he said.
Business major Matheus Ginatto said being on the Bruin cheer squad was one of the things that motivated him to attend SLCC.
“I was looking forward to starting college. One of the captains was looking for guys for the cheer team and they were being given full rides,” Ginatto remembered.
Ginatto began cheering only a year ago. Although he pointed out how there can be challenges in dealing with the squad’s rigorous schedule, Ginatto said cheer has become one of his favorite hobbies.
Ginatto explained how the cheer team strives to create a fun and supportive environment that fosters camaraderie through laughter and bonding.
“When things are super serious, people can get frustrated pretty quick,” he said. “Being able to laugh it off a little bit once in a while makes everybody pretty close to one another. Also, outside practice as well, we hang out. Having an outside bond helps.”
Social work major Aliyah Negrete said the squad participates in numerous team nights, but their strongest bonding occurs during their three-day camp.
“We get close there. And we have group chats which make us close,” Negrete said. “We have big and little sisters and brothers. [Returning athletes] will have a ‘newbie,’ and they will be the newbies’ support system on the team.”
Memorable successes
The SLCC Cheer Squad was dissolved in 2020, but returned in 2022. The team’s quick growth has been memorable for both Wilde and Mills.
“I started with five on my team my first year,” Wilde said. “Just watching it grow over the past few years has been fun … [it’s] exciting to watch their skills [evolve].”
“Having more team members changed everything,” Mills added.
Teamwork has yielded recent successes, creating memories that the team will keep forever. Negrete, for one, boasted a memorable experience from the USA Collegiate Championships last year.
“We went to California for a big cheerleading competition, and we won. We got a banner and everything,” Negrete said.
In a similar memory, Ginatto recounted the long hours spent preparing for another event that the Bruins won.
“Last year, we were getting ready for competition. We were getting all of our routines down,” Ginatto said. “Once we got to competition … and won first prize, and we saw all the hard work we put in paid off,” Ginatto said.
Wilde said another distinctive moment occurred Nov. 9, when 20 of the 33 cheerleaders on her squad were selected to compete in a virtual match against Navarro College, a community college in Texas.
Balancing sport and academics
Coach Wilde said the academic demands for participation in cheer at SLCC are “just like any other sport,” which means that athletes must keep a full-time schedule and stay above a 2.0 GPA.
Negrete said she uses time management to juggle the logistics of school, cheer and work.
“We practice twice a week, and we have games usually twice a week,” Negrete said.
“A lot [of] my time at night, I’m cheering,” Silva said, adding that balancing homework and cheer while working a full-time job can be a demanding feat.
“I do some all-nighters during the week, and, on the weekend, it is homework,” he added.
Regardless of the challenges, Mills, Silva, Ginatto and Negrete all said they encourage others to pursue cheerleading, emphasizing the rewards that come with hard work and dedication.
“I think everyone should try [cheer]. It is a really good sport. The school offers a really good scholarship. It is one of the few schools that gives a scholarship for cheer,” Silva added.
Wilde said she is currently looking for students who have college-level skills in stunts and tumbling. Of what is asked of prospective team members, Wilde said being coachable and having a good work ethic will get you far in the sport. She asks her team to give their best at all times, which she said will serve them well in daily life.
But feedback from Wilde’s team is also important to her.
“I’m a little bit of a perfectionist,” she said. “I always want to make sure that I’m giving my best to the team, making sure I’m doing everything I can to help them — not just in cheerleading but life in general.”
