Now that they’ve had a taste of being back together, Cal State LA’s cheer team is excited to bring back school spirit once fans are allowed at sporting events again.

Cal State LA announced that spring classes will be online only for the first three weeks due to the pandemic. 

A non-profit organization since 2015, the cheerleading team provides the college experience for many Cal State LA students. Stephanie Haro, a criminal justice major, joined her freshman year in 2018. 

“I feel like cheer gave the team the perfect opportunity to meet new people,” said Haro. “It was a very welcoming environment, so it was really easy to make new friends on the team and that was one of my favorite experiences.”

Like a sports team, the cheerleading team has goals and tasks that they prepared for last semester. 

“We made it a priority to attend all the games or at least as many games as we could, and with that, we were always coordinating routines,” said Haro.

“The purpose of the cheer team at Cal State LA is to promote and uphold school spirit to develop a sense of good sportsmanship and encourage the enthusiasm of teammates, athletes and spectators at various events to represent Cal State LA,” said Alexa Montero, president of the cheer team.

School spirit is an important element for Cal State LA’s cheer team, especially during the pandemic. The team aimed to gather people together to celebrate Golden Eagle sports teams being back in action last semester. 

Along with school spirit, practice is one of the main tasks for the cheer team. The team teaches dances and routines to members for games. During timeouts, they perform or volunteer if the school needs representation. According to Montero, the team practiced twice a week for two hours each time.

Freshman Chantal Williams is the treasurer and captain of the team. She plays an important role in keeping the team on track.

Williams became captain after meeting Montero through a mutual friend.

“I’m there to help out and teach the cheers,” she said. “Once again, I’m new to the team. It’s my first year, so I am learning the cheers and the dances at the same time the new people are, but I still help them in any way that they need help.”

As the captain, Williams also said that the goal for last semester was to become closer as a team. Although it’s harder to remember names when people wear face masks, she is happy to see that cheer is bringing people together.

“We weren’t expecting that many people to try out to join the team, but they did, and it’s very exciting,” she said. “There’s a lot of people who have been missing cheer and wanted to cheer last year, just like I did. This year, we’re working hard to get ourselves back into being heard with school spirit.”

Since the spring semester is going to be online for the first few weeks, this means no cheer practices or games for now.

Montero, president of the cheer team said “the athletics department has actually put a pause on all spectators attending games, which means no one is allowed to attend any games and we’re not allowed to cheer.”