Taryn Klein and Beth Doud were at a Syracuse men's basketball game in the fall when the two were inspired by something along the sidelines.
They had been watching the cheerleaders. Feeling a bit nostalgic, both freshmen girls longed to continue their cheering days from high school.
The girls decided to search for shared interest among their peers and students who would be willing to help start a club cheerleading team. They created a Facebook group, and at first about 20 girls, mostly freshmen, had joined.
The next step was to contact someone in Recreation Services. Doud and Klein started e-mailing Scott Catucci, the assistant director of outdoor education and club sports, to start the process. He helped them find a faculty adviser, a place to practice and guided them though the numerous forms for getting the club approved.
"It's mostly for fun," Klein said. "Making up dances and doing stunts - that's what we miss the most. People keep asking if we are going to cheer for club sports, but I haven't even thought about that yet."
One of the main obstacles Doud and Klein have encountered is scheduling times to practice with more than 20 girls. Klein said since they started the club in the middle of the semester those who wanted to join had classes and other commitments with little free time. Other distractions, like class work and rushing for sororities, temporarily delayed the work Klein and Doud were doing to attain approval for the club.
The two expect to get cheerleading club approved by the end of this semester, and if all goes smoothly, including finding adequate practice times and facilities, they hope to have the club in progress by the fall semester.
"Hopefully as the years go by it will get stronger," Doud said. "Right now we aren't expecting a huge turnout. We are doing this for other people in the future, too."
Krista Bussi figured the combination of chilly weather and an underused ice skating rink on South Campus might indicate her favorite sport existed at Syracuse University. However, once the freshman learned a freestyle figure skating club didn't exist here, she decided to change that. Bussi, who has been skating her whole life, started the process of creating a club as soon as she arrived on campus.
First Bussi, undecided in The College of Arts and Science had to find students to sign up for the club. She had been in contact with Marissa Diaz, a junior communication sciences and disorders major, currently on the SU synchronized skating team. Diaz had tried to form a freestyle figure skating club when she was a freshman and told Bussi she had trouble finding interest. The two decided to take on the challenge.
"Finding interest (was hard) because it's such an obscure sport," Bussi said.
Through Facebook, she found eight or nine girls that were interested. Two incoming freshmen even contacted Bussi asking how to sign up.
Bussi said the skills of the potential club members vary from beginners to those who have skated their whole lives. She plans for some members of the team to participate in intercollegiate competitions. Even if a club never officially forms, Bussi said the participants can enter in college-level contests.
She plans to obtain enough signatures for the club so it can kick off at Tennity Ice Skating Pavilion for the fall semester. After, she expects the group's popularity to take off.
"Somebody just has to start it up then it'll grow," Bussi said.
jcmccaff@syr.edu
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