There’s a group at NC State that serves as the unsung heroes in the school’s weekly football games, and it isn’t the big uglies defending the quarterback on the line of scrimmage. It’s the Wolfpack cheerleading squad, the most active NC State fans as well as the lively leaders in motivating the Pack to score, whether it be touchdowns or baskets.
The NC State cheerleading team does not recruit its athletes, and holds tryouts every spring semester during April or early May, hosting 80-100 students and then narrowing it down to 50. Once the team inducts its members, the squad holds practices during the summer.
Before classes started, the squad traveled to team camp in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where the team also competed for a bid to compete in the national championship. The team won the entire event and will compete in the national championships later in the year.
“There’s a big difference between cheering at games and cheering at nationals,” senior small coed captain Abbie Tucker said. “When we cheer at nationals, we do a routine, not a cheer. We do routines with stunts, tumbling and jumps. They’re two completely different things that not many people know about.”
After finishing camp, head coach Harold Trammel worked with the team, especially newer members, to prepare for performing at NC State’s football games.
“A lot of our kids come from different backgrounds,” Trammel said. “All of them may not have cheered for a school team before. A lot of them have done all-star team, so they’re used to competition cheer, but are not used to cheering in front of a large crowd like we do at Carter-Finley.”
The team sends each member of both squads to home football games, covering different sections throughout the field, such as the student sections and end zones. The squad begins the game with style, when leading the team out of the tunnel during the pregame run outs.
Once the crowd is fired up, it is important for the cheerleaders to keep the crowd active, even if the momentum slows for the Wolfpack football team.
“The team definitely plays off how loud the crowd is,” senior large coed captain Alex Brown said. “Sometimes it’s our job, when things are tough and the team isn’t doing so well, to get everybody up. If you’re energetic, the crowd seems to catch on easier.”
Basketball games represent an entirely different atmosphere than football games from a cheerleader’s perspective. The game and the crowd are both different, as the members of the large coed team are sent on to cheer on the Pack in PNC Arena.
“Basketball is more involved because the team can hear us more,” Brown said. “We’re really close to the team and crowd, and the crowd is more disperse around the stadium in basketball. There’s no particular student section, so there’s a distinction of where to direct our attention to.”
Coach Trammel puts the rush into perspective, as the whole beauty of being a cheerleader is the level of involvement that it pertains.
“It’s the atmosphere of being on the sidelines and being able to be apart of what’s happening on and off the field,” Trammel said. “It’s being able to react and respond to things when they’re going well, being there to try and help out and trying to get the crowd going.”
