Bradynn Belcher, Campus Carrier asst. sports editor

At Berry’s home basketball and football games, students and spectators get the luxury of not only seeing Viking athletes compete, but they also get to be entertained by sideline shows and halftime performances. 

Dancers physically exert themselves while performing at half time for the crowd. For 120 seconds, dancers perform a plethora of movements, including splits, toe touches, and pivot turns, subjecting themselves to an abundance of injuries. If a dancer places a foot down incorrectly on the turf and turns, a meniscus could easily tear, and that may be the end of a dancing career if not treated correctly.

On the sidelines, cheerleaders perform stunts that involve hoisting a teammate in the air. It only takes one second for a hand to slip, causing the flier to be dropped and sustain a serious injury. 

The Berry cheer team and the Vikettes, Berry’s dance team, put their bodies on the line week after week to appease spectators and increase morale during athletic competitions. 

The Vikettes and cheerleaders put themselves at risk of injury like athletes that compete on intercollegiate teams every time they step out of the court of the field. However, they do not have access to Berry provided athletic trainers when they sustain injuries. At Berry, if an athlete who competes on an intercollegiate sports team suffers from an injury, they have the luxury of access to certified athletic trainers on campus to receive treatment.

The Berry cheer team and Vikettes are not considered intercollegiate sports at Berry College. Instead, the performance teams are clubs. To be considered an intercollegiate sport, a sport must be played at the collegiate level and have eligibility requirements for the participation of students, which are regulated by a national association. Intercollegiate sports often receive funding from their respective institutions to allow them the capability for athletic competition.

When a Vikette or cheerleader sustains an injury, they are referred to the Health Center. When the Health Center is closed on weekends, many performers find themselves going to urgent care, whereas if a basketball player were to injure himself on the court, he would receive immediate treatment. Other elements such as funding also differ from the sanctioned Berry sports.

Head cheerleading coach Leslie Pledger Boston, entering her fifth year as the head of the cheer squad, explained that sanctioning cheer as a sport is out of the Berry Athletic Department’s hands.

“I still have to go through all of the training, like [cardiopulmonary resuscitation], concussion, and all the training that other coaches have to go through,” Boston said. “But the NCAA does not see cheerleading as a sport, so that is why we are a club here at Berry because the NCAA does not sanction cheer.”

Though the Vikettes have a long-standing history at Berry, they are still in the primitive stages of their program. This student group was completely student run until January when David Eller, the director of the office of student involvement, volunteered to head the Vikettes program as their first ever coach. Eller said that he took on this task to get the Vikettes to the next level as performers.

“I reached out [to the team] and made the connection, and I’ve been with them since,” Eller said. “We’ve been doing a lot of work to help get them to the place they want to be, which is [to be] better performers.”

The NCAA does not categorize dance as a sport either. However, if the Vikettes were presented with the opportunity to become an intercollegiate sport, Eller said that they are not prepared for that at this point in the program. Though they would receive in-house injury treatments, Eller and the Vikettes are content as a student organization.

“We’re in such a building stage for the program to take it to the next level,” Eller said. “I think if students were interested in becoming a competitive team in the future, it’s not something to be ruled out. But as of right now, we’re trying to focus on building up the expectations and the student and community vision of what the Vikettes are.”

Both groups thrive with the autonomy that not being an intercollegiate sport provides them. Since they are a strictly entertainment group, the Vikettes appoint team members to choreograph their entire performances. Eller’s role is simply to refine technique.

The cheer program relies on their coaches to create chants, but head coach Boston welcomes the group to create their own stunts at practice and eventually implement into games. 

“I let them have opinions in stunt formations because this is their team,” Boston said. 

Funding for the cheer and dance clubs provides opportunities for the athletes to take initiative to advocate for what they need. The cheer team is provided a budget from the athletic department, according to Boston, which is spent on uniforms, travel, and any other necessary items that team members need throughout the season. The cheerleaders have opportunities to fundraise on their own throughout the year for any additional gear or equipment they deem necessary.

On the other hand, the Vikettes rely on fundraising and requesting funding through the Student Government Association. Eller delegates this responsibility to his dancers, explaining the importance of being motivated to get game-day ready.

“They have to be proactive to make sure that they’re asking for the correct amount and making sure they’re doing it ahead of time so that they’re able to get uniforms here on time,” Eller said. “I would say there are no challenges to the process. They need to make it to where they have to be proactive and ask in advance so that they’re not rushing to try and get uniform for a performance.”

The cheer team practices two to three times per week, depending on the performances they have coming up. According to senior captain Morgan Whitley, practices tend to be laid-back, but their laid-back nature does not take away from anyone’s commitment to this program. 

“Our practice schedule is not as rigorous as the intercollegiate sports at Berry,” Whitley said. “I don’t think its laid back in the way that people on the team don’t care about it. Everyone is still dedicated and cares about our success.”

Whitley cheered competitively in high school, traveling throughout the year to compete in various cheer categories against different teams, as well as cheer on her high school football and basketball teams. Remembering how rigorous that schedule was, Whitley is content with Berry’s cheer program being a hype-squad only.

“I loved doing competitions when I was in high school, but I think that it really can be stressful,” Whitley said. “So I think it’s good that this is a little bit more laid back here because everybody at Berry is so busy and I think that it would be a lot harder to have the engagement that we do if we were a competing team.” 

Lieutenant for the Vikettes is senior Tomaiya Stafford. Stafford says that the goal of the Vikettes over the past few years has been to elevate performance and gain respect from the student body. As their dances have been getting more intricate and cleaner, the senior has noticed a more positive campus receptivity to the halftime performing team.

“Since my freshman year, we’ve improved, so we are working on keeping that momentum going,” Stafford said. “One of our goals on the leadership team is to make sure the dance is clean when we are on the field because in previous years it has been wishy- washy.”

Though dance and cheer are not official sports at Berry, the lack of athletic recognition does not take away from the joy and sacrifice it takes being in these clubs. Outsiders could easily assume that there is a sense of competition between the two organizations, but junior cheerleader Abby Grace Shrader quickly shot that rumor down.

“We sit out on the field when the Vikettes take it during half time to perform and all of us sit in the line and cheer for them while they dance,” Shrader said. “I think we really root for each other.”