For locals, cheerleading is more than just a sport

Pom-poms... short skirts... ponytails tied back with ribbons... an incorrigible smile that doesn’t go away.

For the average American unfamiliar with the day-to-day labors of a cheerleader, the above characteristics typify what has become one of the country’s most familiar stereotypes: the ditsy blonde who cheers to gain popularity and chases boys instead of good grades.

Are we really talking about good, old-fashioned cheerleading? Has anyone taken it seriously? Or will it ever receive more attention than the casual glance at halftimes of football games?

Porterville High cheer coach Dana Collins suggests the long-overdue spotlight has been brightening since the days she cheered for Monache High in the 1980s.

“It’s really growing,” she said. “It’s become huge internationally.”

To wit, Collins cited her Panthers’ recent March visit to Orlando for the AmeriCheer InterNationals at the Milk House at Disney World. Her young squad placed second in its class against other American teams and squads assembled from places as far away as Chile, Ireland and England.

What’s more, Collins spoke of the possibility that competitive cheerleading could become an Olympic event as early as 2016, ultimately putting to rest the ongoing argument whether cheer is considered a sport.

“They recognize competitive cheer as a sport,” Collins said, “but they ask, ‘Would you classify cheering as a sport as your main focus?’ And no, that’s not our main focus. Our main focus is to be there and support our teams.

“(Competitive cheer) is just another element of it.”

Collins said competitive cheer began coming around the time she was in high school.

“It was very different back then,” she said. “We did shoulder sets and piggy-backs and thigh stands.”

Now, cartwheels don’t cut it. It’s round-off full layouts or go home. Yet Collins takes a rather refreshing approach to keep her students in both Porterville cheer and her spin-off group of advanced cheerleaders — the Central Valley Chargers — grounded in the real principles of cheerleading.

“One of the things I tell these girls is, ‘I don’t care how good you are at (cheering); our purpose is to lead the crowd to support our teams,’” said Collins, who is in her seventh year with the Panthers. “You’re not just showing how to get the crowd motivated or how to do tricks. You’re teaching them how to be respected members of society.”

Bailey Volaski, a 15-year-old sophomore in her second year with the Panthers and the Chargers, said she was “doing nothing” before her mother signed her up for Pop Warner cheer eight years ago.

“As a little girl, I was shy,” said Volaski, who holds the back spot and base positions. “Once I got into cheerleading, I started meeting people and I just learned to be myself.”

Collins says cheerleading also provides youth with real-world applications such as money management and advertising and business strategies.

“When we go on these big trips to Florida, Hawaii, et cetera, a lot of money involved,” Collins said. “These kids don’t have financial support... and Porterville’s not a wealthy community by any stretch. It becomes a game of how to raise this money.”

That means girls from ages 14 to 17 have to muster up the only resources and know-how they have — washing cars, handing out drive-thru dinners and often selling cookie dough, candles and “school spirit” items to recoup the $800 it costs per person for a trip to Florida.

“One of our biggest fundraisers is we sell ads for the sports programs,” Collins said. “The girl who sells the ad gets a portion of the proceeds. Businesses get to put in an ad that promotes their business and show their support for schools.”

Added Volaski: “It took a lot of commitment. It was a great experience for me.”

Many of these same girls are translating their skills to the classroom. Volaski says everyone on the current squad has at least a 2.5 GPA.

“Last year, four girls had straight A’s on the team,” she said.

Collins’ own daughter, Candace, now at Fresno State, graduated with a 3.9 GPA. One of Porterville’s valedictorians last year was also on the squad.

“I’ve had a number of honor students wear our cheer uniforms,” Collins said. Yet, “there will always be some people who think, ‘Oh, she’s a ditsy little girl in a skirt.’”

Volaski says she and her teammates still deal with that stereotype, but they’ve learned to take it in stride.

“We get called mean names sometimes, but we ignore it,” she said. “We know we’re better than that and we move on.

“Everybody feels cheerleading is so easy,” Volaski continued. “They think all we do is jump and kick, but they have no idea what goes on. Some girls will come in for tryouts and they only go for one day because they can’t handle it.”

As with any sport, these girls have learned that cheer is another venue for life’s lessons. And perhaps the sport is proving that cheerleaders might not be who you think they are.

“It’s given me a lot of confidence,” Volaski said.