A varsity sport is one that represents the university when abroad – yet the University of Guelph does not consider their cheerleading team a varsity sport. The cheer team is considered a club sport, meaning that it has to almost completely fund itself through its members – and the price is not cheap.
The university allocates resources and money towards the varsity teams, things like football, hockey, and rugby – sports that it says “represent the school.” While a lot of this money does come from alumni grants and sponsors like Russell Athletics, the university still decides which sports they put the money towards. Unfortunately, cheerleading is not one of them. According to Rebecca Owen, the co-president of Guelph’s cheer team, members pay between 700 and 1100 dollars each to fund the team. Owen said the university does provide a bit of funding, which they appreciate, but cheerleading is “an expensive sport” – it is not near enough, so the cheerleaders have to pay the extra costs.
According to Owen, the cheer team puts in “just as much effort and training as any other varsity sport.” There is a prevalent “cheerleading boot camp,” and one can see the amount of work the team has put in while attending any Gryphon football game. The cheer team is one of the primary sources of school spirit and does an incredible job of getting the crowd enthusiastic and excited.
Owen states that the team does not always travel to other places, but they do travel enough that their presence is well known and other schools are aware of them. The all-girls team and the co-ed team have dominated in competition as both teams have taken the title of National Champions at the Cheer Evolution Collegiate Nationals and Cheer Limited Collegiate Nationals, and the all-girls team also had the title at the PCA Nationals. The team has also won several first and second place titles for many years. Owen explained that they are representing the team at the Queens campus during the football game against Guelph.
Other universities like Western, Waterloo, and Laurier consider their cheer teams as a varsity sport. Owen insisted that the team always represented the university to the best of its ability. “We always have Guelph apparel on, and we know when we are wearing that apparel we need to be on our best behaviour.” The point of a varsity team is that it represents the university, and it is arguable that no one does it better than the cheer team. They represent the university and do all they can to raise school spirit, arguably better than any other team.
Why the team is not considered a varsity team is a valid question. Whether or not it is, the cheer squad works extremely hard to do all they can to represent our school, and make us proud to be Guelph Gryphons.