The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 28, Ed. 1 Friday, May 15, 2009 Page: 17 of 24
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Friday, May 15,2009
the Rice Thresher
SPORTS 17
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by Yan Digilov
Thresher Editorial Staff
Two Bowl trips, a $27 million
dollar renovation of the basketball
facilities and the signing of one of
the winningest basketball coaches
in the nation are all just parts of
Athletic Director Chris Del Conte's
vision for the future of the Rice ath-
letics. Simultaneously, with neither
the resources of a full-time staff nor
the ability to raise six-figure alumni
donations, students leading the Rice
spirit squads have been working to
move their teams in a direction par-
allel to Del Conte's vision.
The Owls' cheerleading and dance
teams have both been through many
changes in recent years after making
concerted efforts to improve the qual-
ity of their performances. Their goal
has been to significantly bolster stu-
dent support on the sidelines.
"Both of [the squads] have im-
proved tremendously," Megan Dodge,
director of marketing, said. "1 think
a lot of it has to do with the
passion of their leaders."
Since the beginning of
the academic year, Dodge has
been assigned as the liaison
between the athletics depart-
ment and the spirit squads. The
seemingly arbitrary addition to
the director of marketing's work
description exemplifies a con-
fusing trend in the relationship
between the groups.
There exists a long-standing
gray area when it comes to cat-
egorizing the spirit squads as
either clubs or parts of the ath-
letics department. In the past,
this self-imposed relationship
worked well for both parties.
But a concerted effort has
arisen from the leader-
ship of the student
groups to improve their
on-field performance,
and when added to the
current financial trou
bles, the students feel
as though their efforts
have been stifled by an
inefficient system.
Balancing act
For the cheer
squad, there is one
piece of the system
in particular that
brings the most
challenges: The
coaches of the squad are students tak-
ing on an extreme additional burden.
"Athletics sees cheerleading as
our job, as our number one priory,"
said senior co-captain Nina Xue. "But
we don't get treated like that's our
number one priority."
Xue and junior co-captain Darren
Arquero were central figures in push-
ing for a squad with improved skill.
To get the team where they wanted
them to be, the captains arranged for
the team to train every week at a gym
located in Sugarland, Tex. While the
move has manifested itself in strong
on-field performances, problems
arose when it came to deciding how
to pay for these kinds of endeavors.
"Darren and 1 have to talk to ath-
letics, run a team, do all the admin-
istrative stuff and we are in charge of
fundraising," Xue said. "And then we
work, and we have school."
The presence of a full-time coach,
she claims, would significantly light-
en the burden on the students and
increase the squad's ability to raise
funds. But the team is stuck
in an enigma. While a coach
would ease the burden of
fundraising, they do not
have up-front money to
pay for a coach.
"Chris Del Conte said
throughout this year, 'Prove
to me that you guys do deserve
a coach,'" Russ Dean, Associate
Athletics Director, said.
Xue believes that they have
done just that.
"[Del Conte] thinks that we
would be more legitimate if
we were really coed, but that
is because he doesn't under-
stand the sport," she said.
"Just because we don't have
pi huge guys launching us
in the air doesn't make us
less legitimate."
But the fact that they are
the only cheer squad with
no full-time coach in the
conference has implications
beyond the quality of their
performances. The athletics
department pays for one of
the members of the squad to
be certified by the National
Cheerleading Association
every year, as conference
regulations require there
to be a certified coach
present at every practice
for safety reasons.
Cheerleading has one of
/
the highest rates of injury of any sports
— ESPN has named it the most danger-
ous sport for girls — and the burden
of keeping the squad safe falls on the
shoulders of the on-field captain.
"1 am the one that is legally re-
sponsible if people get hurt on the
team," Xue said. "If we had a coach,
they could watch everything. [But]
when Darren and 1 are involved in all
the stunts, we can't see everything
that is going on."
While safety in the practices is left
up to the members of the squad, the
medical resources that are available to
any varsity athlete are given to the cheer
squad, as well. But the gray area makes
it difficult, at times, for the system to
deal with the cheerleaders. For exam-
ple, when Arquero was injured last year
though cheerleading, his request for a
motorized scooter from health services
was repeatedly denied, because he was
not classified as an athlete.
"Going through that process is
very difficult," Arquero said. "It is ba-
sically [saying] that we are not being
appreciated."
Owning the squad
While the two squads carry many
of the same responsibilities, the
dance team has responded to their
unique relationship with athletics in
a different manner.
"We are highly self-governing,"
senior Jennie Wilburn, captain of the
dance team, said. "People take up
their responsibility. It is a lot of work,
but people do a good job of trying to
spread it out."
The members of the dance team
take turns creating choreography for
their performances, a point in which
the squad takes great pride. Without
the safety hazards associated with
some of the cheerleaders' routines,
the dancers have been able to place
that same emphasis on constantly
improving without seeking out ex-
tra help. Instead, Wilburn said, the
members have simply been putting in
more time and effort.
Many other dance squads dedicate
themselves to traveling for competi-
tions in addition to supporting their
teams. While this may be a potential
direction for the team, they are cur-
rently focusing on raising the bar for
their game-day performances.
"I think that as we slowly take our
steps to make ourselves more serious,
the student body takes you more se-
riously, and athletics will too," Wil-
burn said. "It is something that will
PHOTOS BY ARIEL SHNITZER
(TOP AND LEFT) AND LAUREN
SCHOEFFLER
The Rice dance and cheer squads are entirely student-run groups that
are given the heavy responsibility of maintaining spirit on campus. With
unique styles, the squads take different approaches to firing up the home
crowd - one with high-flying moves and the other with smooth style.
happen over time as long as people
remain committed. 1 don't think peo-
ple realize how much time we put in.
We put in as much time as some var-
sity sports."
Wilburn says that despite the
team's recurring problems with fund-
ing, she understands the difficulty
that the athletics department has
when it comes to defining the posi-
tion of the spirit squads.
"I would say it is not because they
don't want to help," she said. "1 think
they want to do everything that they
can for us."
When it comes down to it, the
most important issue for all parties is
supporting Rice athletics. The spirit
squads saw the models put forth by
the highflying connections between
Chase Clement and Jarett Dillard, and
they have been trying to raise their
level of performance to coincide with
the increased national recognition.
"1 would never want to say that
1 am comparable to Dillard or Clem-
ent," Wilburn said, "But at the same
time, when we do a lot for a team we
don't feel the same appreciation."
And they intend to bolster the re-
surgent basketball programs as signs
of support for the immense amount
of money and resources placed into
those programs, as well.
"Our team can do things that
would have been impossible in previ-
ous years," Xue said.
But the reshaping of an entire
department cannot happen over
night. There is a mutual recogni-
tion. though, that the process will
have to take a great deal of effort
and communication.
"We will try our hardest to give
them all the tools to be successful
that we can," Dean said. "Now, every
sport will probably want more, but of
course we will sit down with them."
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Michel, Casey. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 28, Ed. 1 Friday, May 15, 2009, newspaper, May 15, 2009; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443193/m1/17/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.