A Rah-Raw Deal for Pepsters? : Workouts Prove Cheerleaders Must Be Athletes Too, They Say

Cheerleaders. They get no respect.

Sure, they get the best seats at the games, and girls yearn to make the squad. But no one thinks of them as serious athletes--not even at Mater Dei High School, where cheerleading and songleading squads have won recent national championships.

Too often, the cheerleaders say, their efforts are taken as just the backdrop for other high school sports. But the girls (and a few boys) insist they are full-fledged athletes who work out with weights, study gymnastics, run long distances and take advanced dance classes.

In fact, their coaches say, cheerleaders probably spend more hours at practice than most other varsity competitors.

“People don’t realize how hard we work,” said Sandy Bustamente, 16, a member of the varsity cheerleading squad. “They think cheerleading is a joke.”

John Merino, the school’s director of special events, puts it a bit more tactfully. “People go to watch the game; the cheerleaders are a sidelight,” he said, adding that even so, spectators these days “expect more of a show, and the gymnastics are hard.”

That seemed evident on a recent afternoon as the cheerleaders gathered after school to practice one of the stunts they perform almost every day.

Wearing white T-shirts and red gym shorts, the 19-member varsity squad lined up. Swaying to an intense musical beat, they did a series of dance moves, chanting: “Monarchs--we’re ready to roll, we’re ready to take control!”

Then, in a maneuver that draws gasps from most who see it, two male squad members tossed Bustamente more than 10 feet in the air, where, smiling broadly, she did a split in space before dropping gracefully into a basket formed by their waiting arms.

“You have to trust your bases,” she said of the boys who caught her. “We do a lot of gymnastics to prepare.”

The gymnastics, in fact, along with all the other workouts and preparations, are practiced nearly three hours a day year-round, including summer.

In return for their efforts, the pepsters get to follow their teams to sporting events, cheer their hearts out and, on occasion, compete in the national contests.

But wider recognition is rare, as evidenced by their experience earlier this month when Mater Dei’s varsity and junior varsity cheerleading squads, as well as its songleading squad, participated in the United Spirit Assn.’s annual competition for cheerleaders and drill teams at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Competing among 3,000 students from about 270 high schools nationwide, the local youngsters showed their mettle by placing first in each of three major divisions.

“They are very precise, their technique is good and they show a lot of pride,” Bobbi Brodt, the association’s general manager, said of the championship squads from Santa Ana. “From watching a Mater Dei squad, one would assume that they spend a lot of time practicing. It shows up when they perform; they really look like a unit.”

Yet a southern regional win by the school’s varsity basketball team the same day made the front page of local newspaper sports sections; and the high school’s cheerleaders and songleaders national award received barely a notice in print or broadcast.

“We’re as strong as an (athletic) team and work just as hard,” said Dana Cormie, 15, a member of the junior varsity cheerleading squad. “(Yet) people think of us as blond, stupid and ditsy.”

That image, cheerleading coaches said, is a holdover from the 1950s and ‘60s when pepsters were viewed primarily as “ornaments” at athletic events chosen more for popularity and appearance than for stamina and talent. And because the activity has historically been dominated by girls, one parent suggested, it has never been taken seriously.

“In a sense it’s sexism,” said Annette Wren, whose 17-year-old daughter, Cheryl, is a member of the school’s 14-member songleading squad, which won another national contest in Florida over the weekend. “This is not considered a sport because girls do it.”

In fact, coaches said, the reality of pepsterism began changing in the late 1970s when audiences conditioned by MTV began expecting more polished and more athletic performances. Thus cheerleading squads began interspersing their punchy yells with difficult gymnastic stunts, and songleaders bearing pompons learned sophisticated dance routines.

The result: showy performances combining art and athletics. “When I was in high school,” Wren recalled, “we’d get our pompons out three hours before the game and decide what to do. Today these girls are athletes .”

Indeed, those athletes were sweating during a recent workout on the school’s athletic field. Beginning with drawn-out warm-up exercises, the varsity cheerleaders eventually got around to practicing pyramids and, finally, the dramatic stunt featuring Bustamente’s rocket-like burst into the air. And perspiring profusely in a mirrored room nearby, the songleaders danced themselves dizzy to a Latin beat under the watchful eyes of their coach.

“I really feel sorry for them sometimes,” coach Cindy Franco said. “This is a lot of work. They do their homework on the bus or plane; wherever they have a chance.”

Contrary to the prevailing public image, head cheerleading coach Fred Olivieri said, his cheerleaders aren’t socialites. “They don’t have time to be,” he said. “They’re too busy working out.”