UK Cheer Squad Overcomes Adversity, Delivers Solid Performance at Big Blue Madness
The Big Blue Nation got its first look at the 2020-21 version of the 24-time national champion UK cheerleading squad on Friday night at Big Blue Madness. And while fans watching on television saw the squad perform a difficult routine, that’s only a small part of the difficulties that have faced the group.
Numerous obstacles have presented themselves this fall, as the squad has faced COVID-19 protocols and restrictions, injuries and integrating a new coaching staff. It’s been a challenging time for all involved, including first-year head coach Ryan O’Connor.
“This has been the hardest year, not only because I’m a new coach,” O’Connor said. “I think it would be hard without COVID. Not coming in and having clear goals. Not having that first football game, that first performance. Not knowing – that’s what this whole semester has been like. Prepare for everything but prepare for nothing.”
Those obstacles create big problems in the world of cheerleading, even more than they do in other sports, according to some of the squad’s more experienced members.
“In cheerleading, the only thing that’s independent is tumbling,” said graduate student Riley Aguiar. “Everything else, you are working with people and I don’t think a lot of people understand the amount of repetition it takes with that one person or those two people to make it perfect. So when they get pulled (out), it’s like starting from square one.”
Senior Donavon Rice also discussed the difficulties.
“There’s different positions that each person needs to do and when those people are gone, we have to change them out with someone else,” Rice said. “And when you work with people, you get a rhythm going. (Having people missing) changes the energy in the routine as well. If that one person isn’t there that day, it’s going to be a little bit different, a little bit harder.”
O’Connor knows that each team member plays an important role and that it’s difficult when one goes out.
“Cheerleading is not like basketball or baseball. We have certain positions, and you learn that position for a routine and no one else can do your job,” O’Connor said. “Then, we might not test positive (for COVID), but we might have been around someone who tested positive and you’re gone for 14 days. And it’s not like you can just hop back in in 14 days because there are 10 other people in your stunt group or your pyramid group who depend on you.”
It has been O’Connor’s job to keep the squad in the proper mindset this season. That means helping to keep a positive outlook, even when things are very tough.
“We just tried to stay positive. Every practice, I had to tell them again to stay positive and tell them that we can do this,” O’Connor said. “And when I went home, I would be thinking about how we are going to do this if one person is out.”
Add to that the fact that the squad was first told they would not be a part of Big Blue Madness, only to find out later that they indeed would be participating. That didn’t leave much time for them to get ready, especially with more challenges presenting themselves.
“We had about a month to put it together,” O’Connor said. “Then, we came upon some injuries. Then, we lost three people who just felt overwhelmed with online school and thought they needed to step away. They’re not the only ones struggling. We lost one of our seniors to a torn ACL, so that was really tough.”
Yet O’Connor and the team pushed forward. She, alone with her assistant coaches Blair Bergmann and Jason Keogh, worked with the team to get a routine ready for the big night.
And that came on Friday when the squad showed off their hard work during the SEC Network broadcast of Big Blue Madness. How do they think it went?
“I think tonight went really, really well. For everything we’ve been through this year, taking people out, putting different people in, everything with COVID, I think it was really awesome,” Aguiar said. “We persevered through every single challenge and no one complained once. I’m just really, really proud of everyone for the way they were able to come out and handle themselves.”
Rice knows that it wasn’t the exact performance the squad hoped to have but it will still quite an accomplishment.
“Tonight wasn’t the absolute best that the routine could have looked. This is the first time since we started working on this routine that we’ve had everyone together at once and we can actually do everything we needed to do in this routine,” Rice said. “With that being said, I think tonight went very well. Although it’s not what we wanted, it went very well for all the people we had to change in and out. I think we did very well for the circumstances but still not up to the standards we normally would like.”
Being a head coach, O’Connor saw the negatives first, although she was pleased overall.
“I think we did a great job – two mistakes,” O’Connor said. “Obviously, I’m thinking about the two mistakes instead of all of the things that went right, but a lot of things went right. I need to be proud of all of the things that went right that were just put in on Sunday. (We only had) three days of practice. I’m so proud of the kids who stepped up. I need to focus on the positives. Very proud of (the routine) tonight.”
The squad and the coaching staff working together have been key to the program’s improvement this fall.
“The coaching staff has done a very good job of coming in and showing us who they are and we are show them who we are and we meet them in the middle,” Rice said. “If something isn’t working, they will communicate it with us and we’ll communicate with them and we’ll work on it, or they’ll meet us in the middle and it’s really good for them and for us when we come together and make one program.”
O’Connor knows that those relationships are still being developed.
“I will be honest, I feel like you miss out on relationships by not seeing people’s faces right now,” O’Connor said. “So much of what we do is a performance sport. I haven’t seen a lot of their smiles, I haven’t seen a lot of their facial expressions when I speak. Those relationships have been harder to build. Not having individual meetings. It’s been really hard to create relationships with them.”
Aguiar thinks the coaches have done a good job with the squad this fall, especially considering all of the circumstances.
“Our coaches are awesome,” Aguiar said. “They come in every day ready to work with us. They push us to be our best. We love our coaches, they’re the best.”
At the end of Friday night’s performance, O’Connor was proud of her squad but even more so, she was thankful for being able to do what she, and the squad, love to do.
“A lot of worry, a lot of stress went into this year’s Big Blue Madness routine,” O’Connor said. “I’m really proud of our seniors. They really set the tone for the team. They always came in very relaxed and very positive. And very excited that we got to do this. Some of my counterparts are not working right now. We’re so lucky that we’re getting to do what we love.”
Through all of the adversity, the UK cheerleaders persevered and put together a memorable performance on Friday at Big Blue Madness.
