As the MCHS cheer team steps out on the mats this year, the lights beam on them and the crowd goes crazy. Smiles light up on the teams face as they get into their positions, but something is different because it is the first year in MCHS history that the cheer team is competing as co-ed.
As the 2025-26 cheer competition season began, MCHS held cheer tryouts where 3 boys, Gavin LaRose, Brody Lidbury and Landon Jett, tried out for the team and made varsity.
Throughout the years at MCHS, many boys have been on the team, but only one at a time. However this is the first year that the cheer team has gotten enough boys to be considered co-ed. This opens a door for the team as they are now in a new division, resulting in going against different competitors.
According to Zipdo, “Nearly 75% of cheerleading squads include at least some male members, reflecting increased gender diversity”.
Gavin LaRose, a MCHS senior, explains how his time on the team has been so far.
“It’s more mentally demanding than it is physical, while it is still physical,” LaRose says. “Some of the things don’t make sense that they are trying to show us and it is kind of hard for them to explain it to us, but we are picking up on it pretty quickly.”
As the three boys attend more practices they have all realized that the sport is more demanding than they have thought.
Their perspectives on the sport have changed completely.
Another senior, Landon Jett, expresses how his perspective has changed.
“Before I thought of it as just a sport for females, but now I think it’s very cool that men do the sport,” Jett says. “My sister was a cheerleader when she was younger and I thought it was more of a hobby than a sport, but now I’ve realized cheer is way more of a sport”.
People have underestimated cheer being a sport for quite some time. Many have even debated that cheer is not even a sport or physically demanding. That is not the case at all and these boys are all coming to the same conclusion that cheer is a sport.
“I obviously have a lot to learn and I have been working on getting better so that I can be a better teammate,” junior at MCHS Brody Lidbury says. “I still have a lot to go but I feel confident that I will get better”.
As the three boys have now joined the team they have to work on blending with the rest of the team and being a good teammate to the girls that have been together on the MCHS cheer team for a while.
“I was nervous and unsure about how it would all work. After some practices and run-throughs, I was very excited,” varsity cheer coach Payton Randazzo says. “We have lots of potential, and I’m excited to see how we do throughout the season.”
The team is also now in a new division. A co-ed division is much different then what our cheer team is used to. Co-ed means that the cheer teams competing against each other are a mix of boys and girls. It is MCHS first year ever in this division.
Brooklyn Hauber talks about how she feels about competing in a new division.
“Being in the large varsity co-ed division gives us a better chance at making it to state,” Hauber says, “it’s definitely going to be a little different since we have never been in this division but I think we are going to make it work.”
Coach Randazzo also talked about how the boys are benefiting the team. She says, “The boys have added a lot of strength to our competition team this year. Because of their joining, we are now in the co-ed division, and can do skills that are common for boys to perform. For example, co-ed stunts and one man.”
As the cheer season progresses we have high hopes for our MCHS cheerleaders in their new co-ed division as we welcome our three new male cheerleaders to the team.