2008 Woodie Awards
All-girls spirit team to replace cheer and dance teams
No room for the men
Adam Tamburin
Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: News
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The Athletic Department recently announced plans to merge the dance and cheerleading teams into a spirit team that will entertain spectators at athletic events-without the men on the cheerleading squad.
"We are going to an all-girls format [next year], and I'm calling it my power team," said Casey Faye Mills, the spirit team's coach, who is in her eighth year coaching at Saint Louis University.
"It's going to be a group of girls who are skilled in dance and all areas of cheering," she said about the team, which will combine elements of dance and cheerleading.
Mills said that officials within the Athletic Department have been "thinking about this for years," and saw the impending opening of Chaifetz Arena as an ideal time to begin the revamped program.
While men will not be included in next year's spirit team, Mills remained open to the possibility of returning to some sort of co-ed format in the future.
"I love [the men on the team]," said Mills. "They have always offered good things to the program."
One benefit of merging the teams and cutting the amount of women who are able to participate to a maximum of 20, Mills said, is that every member of the team will have a partial athletic scholarship.
Kosha Irby, associate director of the Athletic Department, cited safety during dangerous stunts as an issue that motivated the move from a co-ed team to a women's team, as men must be highly trained to effectively fulfill their duties.
"We're not recruiting the top caliber [of men]," Irby said. "We don't have a surefire base [of men to draw from]."
Irby said that bringing the talents of the dance team and the cheerleading squad together as a spirit team would "improve the quality and experience of both teams."
Junior Jermaine Duffis, a cheerleader this year, said that he first learned of the new spirit team during a tournament in mid-March.
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
Gene
posted 3/31/08 @ 10:19 AM CST
This is a sad story. If SLU wants to be taken seriously as a program, everything around the program needs to be taken seriously. Dancing is not cheering. (Continued…)
Ann
posted 3/31/08 @ 11:37 AM CST
This is very sad for SLU. All the best schools are doing more for their Cheer teams not less. SLU is not drawing the best men because of what the school is offering. (Continued…)
CIndy Lane
posted 4/01/08 @ 3:29 PM CST
Cheering any collegiate sport with just girls is a bad idea. Are we back in high school? The men bring a presence that 20 twirling dancers cannot equal. (Continued…)
Caitlin
posted 9/27/08 @ 9:37 PM CST
Oh what a great idea! NOT. So far since this change has happened, there has been a neck injury, an ankle injury, a broken leg, and a back injury. Sounds like a great change. (Continued…)
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