Cheerleading tryouts to be held over Easter holiday
Some say having auditions over holiday allows freshmen time to travel

By Alisha Brown
Staff Reporter

Potential cheerleaders for the 2001-02 school year will spend their Good Friday and the Saturday of Easter weekend with SuperFrog, instead of the Easter Bunny.

Tryouts for the mascot and the co-ed and all-girls cheerleading squads will be held over the university and national holiday weekend.

Jayme Magee, a junior cheerleader and marketing major, said sponsor Jeff Tucker told the squads the dates for the tryouts were one of the best options for incoming freshmen.

“Mainly why he did it on that weekend is so the high school students coming up don’t have to miss school,” Magee said. “When I tried out, I had to drive from Houston two different weekends — one to learn the routine and one to try out.”

Tucker is away at the Western Athletic Conference basketball tournament and could not be reached for comment.

Special to the Skiff Senior Josh Johnson does a Statue of Liberty stunt with junior Dana Adams during the football season. The co-ed squad could lose as many as six men to graduation or a heightened class schedule.

Magee said sacrificing the holiday weekend for tryouts, however, was not a popular choice among most of the existing squad.

“We cheered the day after Thanksgiving, at the Southern Methodist University game, but that was optional because only five pairs (on the co-ed squad) could go,” Magee said. “And we gave up part of our (Winter Break) to go to the bowl game. But those were fun, and tryouts are definitely not fun.”

Dana Adams, a junior nursing major, said the students found out about the tryout date from the calendar Tucker gave them.

“He didn’t even tell us,” Adams said. “We just got the schedule. Maybe if he had talked to us about it more, but we really don’t know if we have other options.”

Former cheerleading sponsor Glenda Clausen said last year’s incoming freshmen were not allowed to try out. She said she could see how holding the tryouts over Easter weekend would allowing time for freshmen to travel this year.

“I would have thought that having it (Easter weekend) would hurt rather than help,” Clausen said.

She said since basketball season has ended and there are no other sports obligations, holding a Saturday clinic and Sunday tryout on a separate weekend might be a better proposition.

Adams said the co-ed squad will be losing a number of cheerleaders to graduation or for other reasons. About six of those leaving will be men.

Adams said Tucker had mentioned to her that the response from guys wanting to audition has been greater than in past years. The timing of the tryouts may be a factor in this, he said.

“We’re losing a lot of guys, and that will give us more room for freshmen,” Adams said. “If we don’t get 10 guys we can’t take 10 girls.”

Ross Bailey, associate athletics director, said other university events for that weekend include a track meet and a baseball game.

Adams said athletes are accustomed to giving up their free time and holidays for practices and games. She said if they want it bad enough, another sacrifice can be made on Good Friday.

“I want this, and just because it’s on Easter doesn’t mean I’m not going to try out,” she said. “Obviously he has his reasons and I’m going to do it regardless.”

Alisha Brown
a.k.brown2@student.tcu.edu