By Justin Rushia
After experiencing a significant decline in membership and facing numerous challenges in the aftermath of the pandemic, the SUNY Plattsburgh cheerleading team has seen a recent resurgence.
Today, the team has 15 active members and is in the healthiest spot it has been in years.
Alexis Albright has served as captain of the cheer team for the past two and a half years, and joined the team in fall 2022 — the first season when cheer was held without COVID-19 restrictions. At that time, the team had only six members.
“I think such precautions that were previously in place hindered people’s perception of what joining the team would be like,” Albright wrote in a text.
The pandemic precautions prohibited the cheer team from performing stunts, which Albright said is arguably the prominent and most fun aspect of the sport. The team could only perform dances and call cheers from the sidelines at basketball games.
To combat these issues, the cheerleading team undertook a series of initiatives to revitalize their roster. The first step Alright and the team took was fighting to ensure that stunting could make a comeback for the following season since it is such a vital aspect of the sport and helps draw in new members.
The team dedicated much of their time to creating flyers to distribute in the residence halls. They also set up tables in the Angel College Center on several occasions to promote the return of stunting and to inform potential new members that no prior experience was required.
“Cheer can seem intimidating to join for the first time in college if you have no prior experience, so making sure everyone feels welcome is very important to me,” Albright wrote.
The team also used their own personal connections to see if anyone wanted to join.
“I joined the team in February 2024 because Lexi convinced me to try it out, and I fell in love with the sport,” cheerleader Mackenzie Thompson wrote in a text.
This season, the team almost doubled its roster size from the previous season.
With a revitalized roster featuring 15 members, the team has executed a wider range of complex stunts.
“Our routine includes everything we work on, so it’s multiple stunts, a dance, a jumping sequence and a cheer,” Draper wrote. “We’ve been working on one big one for a little over a month now.”
Thompson and Albright both emphasized the importance of trust in cheerleading. This is especially crucial during stunts, where the flyers — athletes who are lifted and tossed into the air by their teammates — must have complete confidence in their bases to catch them safely on their descent.
“It’s important for the team to be friends outside of games and practices, specifically for the flyers,” Thompson wrote. “If the team on the ground is out of sync, it can be dangerous and affect the person in the air.”
Albright believes that having a cheerleading team on campus is important for building school spirit and getting the community involved at sporting events. She points out that cheer teams support Cardinal sports, help unite students, encourage them to join school activities and offer chances for personal growth and teamwork skills.
“I hope that having us on the sidelines cheering for them helps give them confidence and motivation to help them win,” Albright wrote. “Just knowing that people are rooting for you is really important for any sport or athlete.”
