By Mayra Maldonado
Staff Writer

It’s a new year for the California Sate University Bakersfield cheerleaders, as they begin this year with a new spirit coordinator, Arthur Smith.

Smith is the newest addition to the athletics program. He comes from Purdue University, with 13 years of cheer experience. He plans on making well-rounded cheerleaders of the 14-women squad this year.

“The commitment of being a part of the team requires practice on a weekly basis. The cheerleaders are required to be at practice three days a week from 6 a.m. [to 8 a.m.],” Smith said. They will be cheering this upcoming season for the men’s and women’s basketball and women’s volleyball.

The requirements to be a cheerleader areas follows: they must maintain good grades, be a full-time student and have a faithful practice ethic in order to perform.

“People ask the difference [between cheerleaders and dancers] all the time and the biggest difference is that the dance team has more of an entertainment purpose than cheering purpose. The job of the cheerleaders is to rally up the crowd at games,” Smith said.

Aubrie De La Rosa, a Liberal Studies major, said, “I look forward to coming together as a team
and the public should be ready for a more developed squad because of what Coach Smith has to offer
our program.” De La Rosa has seven years of cheer experience and expects to learn a lot from Smith.

Being a part of such a team takes a lot of dedication and is a huge time commitment. “Finding the time and managing it, working, going to school, and balancing 6 a.m. practices will be difficult, but I can do it,” said De La Rosa.

This year’s program will entail several firsts, one is being that the cheerleaders will get to
experience being a part of the WAC conference.

Arlene Carrillo, a kinesiology major, said, “I look forward to traveling and being able to experience the WAC conference competiveness. I’m excited for the season because ever since I was little I’ve liked to perform in front of audiences and now I get to do that while going to school.”

Some of the perks of being on the cheerleading squad include a partial scholarship and a sponsorship by Adidas. The sponsorship entails the following: practice shirts and shorts, warm-ups, shoes and bags. While traveling they will be provided transportation and food.

According to Smith, “Being on the squad you don’t have to think about fundraising while being part of the team, on top of the school finances. Not having finances shouldn’t stop anyone from being on the team.”

This year there will be several pre-game events on campus also known as pep rallies. They will be held prior to Thursday home games at the Icardo Center. They hope to rally and excite students for high game attendance.

The cheerleaders will be doing community service this year including holding a cheer clinic for the Girl Scouts on Nov. 20th endeavor the clinic. The squad takes advantage of these opportunities to give back to the community by volunteering their time with these kinds of events.

Another community event the cheerleaders will be doing this next year will be attending the Veteran’s Day Parade. It is also a basketball game day and that night at the basketball game the cheer squad will be wearing a special shirt in honor of all the veterans. Smith said that they will also be selling shirts and that the proceeds from these shirts will benefit the Wounded Warriors, which assists soldiers
who have been severely wounded in war.