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As an institution, Grand View University inspires a lot of pride in its students, especially through its many successful athletic teams. However, one team has shown exponential growth, doubling last season’s scores and breaking program records. This accomplishment goes to none other than GVU’s competitive cheer team.  

      Currently ranked number 10 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), GVU’s cheer team has worked hard this season to earn their place at the table, winning multiple competitions, placing third at conference and competing at nationals. Head Coach, Nicholas Black is proud of the team’s growth.   

      “My favorite thing about coaching cheer would be just being able to see the athletes’ growth,” Coach Black said. “They often tend to think that I can’t tumble, I can’t stunt, I can’t do this. But if you switch their mindset and switch their perspective, it allows for them to grow, and that’s the most rewarding aspect.” 

      Black was a member of GVU’s competitive cheer team for two years while getting his master’s degree in 2021. During Black’s last semester he accepted a position as an Assistant Coach, effectively beginning his coaching career before taking on his current role as Head Coach in August of 2021.  

      At this point, Black sat down with Assistant Coach Maddie Grell and the cheer team to create three goals for the program moving forward: 

      1. Increase the program’s numbers. 

      2. Break into the top ten for the NAIA competitive cheer ranking. 

      3. Advance to the National Championship.  

      To meet the first goal, Black recruited 25 athletes for the 2022-23 season, drastically increasing the program’s numbers from the 12 it had at the beginning of the 2021-22 season. Black hopes to keep his current athletes and continue growing program numbers to 45-50 athletes for next season. 

      The team also took the time to perfect their foundation of skills in practice, a difference from past seasons that could explain for some of their success.  

However, it is just as important to build relationships.  

      “Not every practice is going to be perfect. Not every athlete is going to give 100% at all times and that’s okay. So, taking that in as a coach, you show a lot of grace, showing them that you don’t know what’s going on behind their closed door,” said Black. “And I think that has helped to build relationships, and build trust to then build the program.”  

      Senior Cheer Captain Penelope Olsen also felt a difference in the team’s dynamics compared to past seasons. 

      “I would say [this season is] definitely more of a collegiate competitive sport versus past years,” Olsen said. “Past years, I feel like we focused more on sideline gameday aspects, and this year we kind of took that initiative to put our name out there at NAIA and set the standard for years to come.” 

      Setting the standard is exactly what the team did. In past seasons, the squad scored points in the 40s and 50s. However, they doubled that score this season: Earning an average of 85.90 points on their routine with a 97-point max out.   

      “Sometimes, with cheer, it is very physically grueling, so they don’t think about the long-term effects of putting in the work,” said Black. “It’s really just a sigh of relief that it all paid off and that it was worth it.” 

      One of the season highlights was the team’s trip to the National Championship, which was held in Ypsilanti, Michigan. After two days of competing, the team received 14th place, a GVU competitive cheer record. 

      When talking about the experience, GVU junior Clay Garretson explained: “We didn’t come in expecting to win. We came here to have a good time and show them we deserve to be here. And I think we did that really well.” 

      GVU’s cheer team was the only team competing for the first time at the National Championship. While this has the potential to be discouraging, this team took it in stride. 

      “It was kind of overwhelming, kind of intimidating at first, being a first-time appearance team, but I feel like the team, especially with them being so young, just took everything on and wanted to take it as a learning experience, almost to see what other teams are doing,” said Olsen. “I feel like we wanted to support everyone that was there. We wanted to be everyone’s friend and just get to know everyone.” 

      This positive outlook exemplifies why this team was awarded the 2023 Musco Team Sportsmanship Award for the Heart Athletic Conference. The Heart Association of Student-Athletes (HASA) developed the award for teams that display the NAIA’s five core character values of integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership. 

      The team also had six Daktronics NAIA Competitive Cheer Scholar-Athletes: Adeline Chance, Keely Cookson, Samantha Engman, Clay Garretson, Penelope Olsen and Emmawyn Powers were all nominated for their academic achievements, maintaining a minimum grade point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale.  

      “It is just amazing to see you can work your butts off in the classroom and then still be able to compete competitively in a college sport and work. There is a lot of us that work, go to school and cheer,” said Garretson. “We have a lot going on, but we can still show that we are here for one thing, and that’s our academics.”  

      Moving forward, the team will set new goals to replace those they met this season. According to Black, these include winning conference, placing in the top half of the national championship, and winning the NAIA division of the National Cheer Association College Nationals for cheer in Daytona Beach, Florida. Though the team has not attended the NCA College Nationals for cheer, it is an exciting opportunity to compete with new teams and grow their skills. 

      Though her time at GVU is ending, Olsen is leaving confident that the competitive cheer team will continue to grow and do remarkable things.  

      “I feel like this is the tipping point for where they are going to go,” she said. “They are only going to go up from here.”