<\/p>\n
BY BECKY FULTON – STAFF WRITER<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Those who have attended Centre\u2019s home football games this season may have noticed something a little different about this year\u2019s cheer squad. Mike Carter, a junior Computer Science major, is the only male member on the squad, and the first one at Centre in years.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to do something athletic, to work out more, and get in better shape,\u201d Carter said. \u201cCheerleading was the most unique, out of the way thing I could do.\u201d<\/p>\n Carter decided on a whim to take up cheerleading. \u201cI just emailed the coach,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t think it was going to be a thing.\u201d As for joining the squad, Carter has had a pleasant experience.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a lot more seamless than I thought it\u2019d be. We\u2019re all business-oriented during practice,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n Coach Robin Moler believes Carter\u2019s presence has benefitted the group as a whole.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is an amazing addition to our squad,\u201d Moler said. \u201cCentre used to have male cheerleaders and he\u2019s bringing it back.\u201d<\/p>\n Carter\u2019s involvement has also changed the types of routines the squad can perform.<\/p>\n \u201cThe difficulty of the stunting we can do has improved,\u201d Moler said.<\/p>\n Carter\u2019s backspot position in the formation enables these more challenging stunts. He is responsible for making sure the head, neck, and shoulders of the cheerleader in the role of the flyer, the person up in the air, does not get hurt.<\/p>\n \u201c[Carter] does a great job making sure the flyer is safe,\u201d Moler said.<\/p>\n Stunting is also Carter\u2019s favorite part about being on the cheer squad.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t like the cheerleading part,\u201d Carter said. Many of the new football recruits who visit are now also expressing an interest in possibly joining the cheer squad for the winter season.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have recruits coming in that want to play football but cheer basketball,\u201d Moler said. \u201cIt\u2019s cool that other people are thinking to join.\u201d<\/p>\n As for being the only male member of the squad, Carter said he has not had to deal with much teasing from others, but quite the opposite.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are so hyper aware of giving me flack,\u201d Carter said. \u201cI get called smart a lot. It\u2019s really positive.\u201d<\/p>\n However, as always, there is at least one difficulty Carter facing when being on a squad with all women. \u201cThey sometimes discuss problems that relate only to the girls,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n But Carter\u2019s addition to the squad seems to be over all a positive one.<\/p>\n \u201cHe trains just as hard as everyone else,\u201d Moler said. \u201cPeople are shocked when they see him.\u201d<\/p>\n Other members of the squad also view Carter\u2019s joining the squad in a positive light. \u201cI\u2019ve never cheered with guys,\u201d said Junior and Co-Captain Devin Baker. \u201cSo it\u2019s a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Senior Brandy Orth Becker also has an optimistic outlook on Carter\u2019s joining the squad,<\/p>\n \u201cMike offers more stability than a good bra.\u201d<\/p>\n This stability is something Carter plans to continue providing as the long male force on the cheerleading team. However, his ultimate hope is to reinvigorate the male cheerleading culture at Centre College. With this, he is certainly off to a very promising start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BY BECKY FULTON – STAFF WRITER Those who have attended Centre\u2019s home football games this season may have noticed something a little different about this year\u2019s cheer squad. Mike Carter, a junior Computer Science major, is the only male member on the squad, and the first one at Centre in years. \u201cI wanted to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}