The global pandemic has brought a significant amount of change here around Morningside’s campus and it has created a completely new normal for everyone. Whether that includes: wearing masks, social distancing, ZOOM meetings, minimal breaks in the academic calendar, or quarantine floors this year has been the most different compared to anything we students and athletes have experienced before.
Not only has the pandemic affected the classroom setting and living situations, but even the athletic aspects such as practices and games. This year as a cheerleader it was extremely difficult trying to adapt to new rules and expectations. Every day before practice or game days we have to line up to get our temperatures taken and report any new symptoms we may be experiencing. We have to wear masks into the football stadium and when we enter the crowd, but when we are cheering on the sidelines masks are not required. On the other hand, for all basketball games masks must be worn whether we are cheering from the sidelines or mingling in the crowd. I believe this rule is different for the two athletics, because of the setting. Basketball games are in the confined space of the gym versus football games being in the outdoor stadium and further away from the crowd.
A major issue we have run into is trying to cheer with a mask on in a very loud gym filled with roaring fans. It is so extremely hard to hear one another when were are right next to each other, so I can only imagine how the crowd can even hear us from a distance. Thus making our presence almost irrelevant to the event entirely. I feel that this year has limited our cheer experience in so many ways, but hope that in the future we will get to enjoy our season as we could once before.
When talking to our cheer coach Dakota VanHauen he said, “This year has definitely been different, but as a team I haven’t had a better group of girls. This season everyone has been extremely responsible and there has been very minimal drama.” When I asked him what his hopes are for the future of the cheer squad with the occurring pandemic he said, “I can only focus on expanding our team and hoping these unfortunate conditions of limited practices and mask mandates comes to an end along with the spread of corona virus across campus.” I asked him his thoughts on how the pandemic has affected our squad and he said, “At the beginning of the year it was really hard to keep positive when 16 of our 30 cheerleaders were out due to contact tracing and exposure, because we could hardly get anything accomplished in practice.” Since then we have had to work even harder to make up for lost time.
To gain more opinion on the cheer season this year I also talked to cheerleader Emma Endrulat. She said, “This year has been very challenging with all the different requirements, but I still am so glad I got to be apart of this team and make lots of memories with my teammates.” I asked her what was the most difficult change for her and she said,”The most difficult challenge would probably have to be trying to yell through a mask and nearly suffocating through the limited airflow.” I told her that I could not agree more. The masks make any part of being an athlete that much harder and majority of the time you can’t even breathe and become extremely light headed. Emma says, “Going forward I hope that COVID-19 no longer has to be an issue for our team and that one day we can go back to having camps and being able to show-off facials and smiling at all our friends and family in the crowd or even getting to go into the crowd to hug our families and take pictures without having to have a mask on.” It’s the smallest things and privileges that we take for granted and we never realized how much they actually mattered until they’re gone.
Overall the cheer team has come out on top this year even with all the obstacles thrown our way. They have made us that much more hard-working and dedicated along with the extra responsibilities that coach talked about earlier. Our team is now that much stronger and I can’t wait for all the positivity that lies ahead. Hopefully next season we can return to our old normal and continue to spread cheer through out each and every event we attend.