HSU Insider

HSU Cheerleading Camper Will Soon Be Wooing Crowds in the Panhandle

• By Janlyn Echols Thaxton
• Posted July 2, 2009 10:25 AM
• 0 Comments

Brandon Justice is an all-around great athlete, but you truly are not going to believe what he is planning on doing once school starts.

Brandon is at Hardin-Simmons attending the National Cheerleading Association camp being held here this week. What will surprise you is the uniform he plans to wear when he cheers.

In the Mabee Complex gym there is a sea of girls and a handful of guys. Brandon is part of a four-member team learning the basket toss.

There is no doubt about who is in command as he says in a succinct voice, "Ready, one, two, down, up, down, up." In response to his instructions, one brave girl is lifted until she stands at arm's length above the others. Brandon then instructs, "Cradle, one, two, down, up." The young lady is tossed into the air just before gravity takes hold and she falls safely into a group catch.

Brandon is one of about 220 cheerleaders from 25 schools around the West Texas area. This is Brandon's first year as a cheerleader at his high school in Claude, TX,--just east of Amarillo. He says he got a lot of encouragement from many of the girls to try out for the squad. "I have always thought this looked like a fun sport. It gives me something to do in the summer," says Bandon. "But it's a lot harder than I thought."

While Claude is a 1A school in a town of about 1300, the cheerleading squad at the high school seems huge--ten girls and two boys.

Jana Lemons is the cheerleader sponsor and, in her ten years, this is the first time the school has had male cheerleaders. "They bring a tremendous amount of strength to the team.They are also loud," Lemons says, yelling to be heard above the noise in the gym.

William Daugherty is the head instructor for the camp. Since it is raining outside, he is sitting on the first row of the bleachers in the gym as he makes notes during the maneuver the students are practicing. He was a cheerleader at Texas Tech and also at Levelland High School. He says this is a drill the campers have to master in order to move on in the program. "Usually we practice this in the grass outside," he says, "where it feels safer, but the rain has driven us indoors."

During the basket toss, he says, the number one thing is trust. "A girl can go about 20 feet in the air, depending on her reach and the strength of the toss. She truly has to trust the people catching her." And that is the point of this camp: "Safety," he says is number one, "but we also teach the campers techniques and how to interact with the crowd."

Brandon will most likely have no trouble interacting with the crowd in Claude after they see what he is wearing. The crazy part about Brandon--he is also a football player! So now, are you getting this picture?

How do you play football and be a cheerleader? Brandon doesn't really know exactly how it will work either, but he anticipates being on the sidelines cheering in his football uniform! Pads and all.

Brandon also runs track, and plays baseball as well as basketball. He says something has to give, so he may have to drop basketball to have time to be on the cheering squad.

Lemons says she thinks the student body is really excited about the guys being on the squad this year. But a football player--cheering for the football team . . . well, that will a game to see!