By Rachel Berthiaume
After a year without cheer, Worcester State University is expected to welcome a new and improved cheer team to its growing list of clubs by the fall of 2017.
Thanks to WSU students Marisa Kulas and Olivia Petrucci, the necessary steps are being taken to bring a cheer team back to WSU.
The cheer team will host open tryouts for anyone interested in being on the game team, which will perform at popular events on campus such as homecoming and midnight madness.
Kulas and Petrucci both stated that the reaction to this proposal has been positive, and that many members of the WSU community have come forward showing interest.
“I have gotten nothing but positive reactions, especially from the football team,” Petrucci said. “They are excited to have cheerleaders.”
The cheer team would also have a competition team of 15-20 people who would compete at the National Cheer Association in Daytona, Florida in April.
In 2012, the WSU cheer team received a bid to compete at NCA, so there are high hopes that the new team can do it again.
Since competing at NCA is costly, Kulas says there will be a large focus on raising money for the trip
“We have a lot of fundraising to go into it,” said Kulas. “We are thinking of doing some clinics for the little ones and high school clinics, and maybe a competition at the new gym.”
In the past, the cheer team had a wide range of success including being on the cover of Alumni Magazine in fall 2011 and placing third overall at the Advanced Sprint Spring Time Classic Competition in 2012.
The process to find a coach and finalize all the details is still under wraps, but Kulas and Petrucci are hopeful that the team will be up and running by the end of the summer so they can be ready for the fall 2017 season.
“Even to just have a few practices this year would be nice, like conditioning, tumbling and stunting,” Petrucci said.
The cheer team is well on its way to success, and participants hope it will eventually be supported by the Athletics Department.
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