Personal Interview

To end, a former Trinity Cheerleader, Bibi Cutilletta, shares some information on the cheerleading squad before she retired. Tryouts were every year to stay on the team and the first-year required you to attend a practice and make sure you were able to go through the whole thing. In the second year, she and her teammates attended basic tryout after going to a cheer clinic. At this clinic, “I learned some skills and then had my skills evaluated” (Cutilletta 2020). You would then learn a whole routine. At the end of the tryout, you needed to complete this routine in front of a group of coaches on your own. You go through a couple of skills like jumping or tumbling. She says, “when I was on the team there weren’t as many girls […] everyone made it, however, in recent years tryouts have gotten a lot more cutthroat” (Cutilletta 2020). Also, Cutilletta adds that you must maintain a certain mile time each year. When asked about maintaining a certain ‘aesthetic’, she describes practice and game day criteria. During practice, you needed to wear a specific shirt depending on the practice and pair it with spanks. Game days were quite different, the girls had to agree on a certain hairstyle and game day bow. You had to put a team tattoo on your cheek and had to have certain socks that do not show in your cheer shoes. Hair must be a natural color and nails need to be short and neutral. Piercings were not allowed on game days or practice. Tattoos were also prohibited and needed to be covered whether with makeup or a wrap of some kind. “In our cheer bag, I kept my running shoes/ work out shoes, and cheer shoes. You have to have certain cheer shoes to wear and the team needs to match” (Cutilletta 2020). She has also never talked with other alumni that have had a different experience than her.

 When asked if any males tried out or made it on the team, she claimed that has never seen a male tryout before. I ask her if their routine would have been different or easier with a male presence and her response was “possibly but for me, it is hard to tell because I was a base and did not fly. We did have to be strong and it is not too terrible to base because weight is also lifted by the flyers” (Cutilletta 2020). Cutilletta did follow up and say that it would have been nice for a male to be on the team because they would be able to help with the heavy lifting.