Disclaimer: every quote in this article came directly from Mountain Lakes’ students, cheerleaders, football players, and faculty. Most chose to remain anonymous.
Like most high school football teams, the Mountain Lakes HERD is often considered the crown jewel of its community. On the field, the team is supported by a passionate audience, a hard-working band, and a dedicated cheerleading squad. In school, this encouragement is reflected by the lining of the hallways with new, expertly-made posters and colored streamers each week. The HERD’s revered status and culture may create a reluctance within the community to publicly question the team’s actions or ideals.
Among these established ideals, the tradition that links the football team with the cheerleading team is deeply rooted in Mountain Lakes’ history. Every week, the cheerleaders are expected to make posters and to bake for the football players in order to maintain the team’s morale and encourage high school spirit.
This tradition worries those who see it as encouraging young women to dote on the needs of men–particularly in a way that shows them fit to fulfill outdated matrimonial duties. Though it has been criticized, debated, and even removed, this tradition still manages to bounce back after every obstacle.
To many parents and quiet observers, this practice is simply seen as a harmless tradition. When Lakers see encouraging posters and colorful streamers strung throughout the hallway, they are filled with pride. They view the cheerleaders’ baked goods as another one of the many ways that the bond between the two teams remains as one of the strongest in Mountain Lakes. In fact, the majority of the members of the cheerleading and football teams feel similarly; they fervently defend the tradition because they believe that each side equally supports the other.
The cheerleaders are supported by the football team, which covers all of the pre-game baking or crafting expenses. They are also invited to the football team’s sports banquet and typically eat first at any team dinner. At the end of every season, the senior football players routinely bake or buy something for “their cheerleader” to show their appreciation for the girls’ efforts.
Above all else, the cheerleaders are given the option to not partake in the tradition at all.
Though this leads some to assume that all cheerleaders follow this tradition of their own volition, it really isn’t as black and white as it seems. Many Mountain Lakes sports traditions are similar to this one, in that a player is given the choice to opt out of but participates anyway due to social pressures. Take the freshman boys lacrosse team’s tradition of bleaching their hair blonde. They are given the opportunity to say no to the tradition, yet nearly every member adheres to it anyway.
Many cheerleaders have confessed that they feel as though they are expected to carry out their end of the tradition. They would never want to shoulder the guilt of not providing for their senior player when the rest of their teammates were doing so and possibly feel excluded as a result. In fact, the very small number of cheerleaders who oppose the tradition attempted to retract their statements for this article, and only agreed to publish their comments on the condition of anonymity.
Despite conflicting opinions within the cheerleading team, their ultimate attitude towards the baking tradition, at least outwardly, remains overwhelmingly positive. Coach Fusco revealed in an interview that he has tried to end the baking tradition in previous years, only to receive countless protests from parents and teammates alike. Fusco and the prior cheerleading coach would clearly state that the cheerleaders no longer needed to bake, yet the next day they brought in cookies and cupcakes galore for the football players. The rest is ancient history.
However, the cheerleading team’s acceptance of this tradition doesn’t negate the troubling concerns of sexism. Examples of simple compliance against oppression exist all throughout history.
Since its birth 54 years ago, Mountain Lakes’ cheerleading tradition has progressed from its sexist past. Cheerleaders all throughout the United States have evolved from being mere objects on the sidelines to powerful and respected athletes. Our Mountain Lakes cheerleaders no longer have to visit senior players’ bedrooms to decorate and clean for their benefit as they once did (seriously). We have improved and adjusted our traditions in the past, and we are fully capable of changing in the future.
Alternatives exist. Coach Fusco has proposed the possibility of having the cheerleaders cheer for a different sports team each week, or limiting the amount of posters that they make per game. Perhaps, in return for decorating the hallway and cheering for every game, the football players could bake for the cheerleaders each week. Maybe the baking tradition should be ended altogether in favor of other practices. Some schools, for example, play music in the hallways during passing time on game day to psych up the entire school.
People dislike change. Ultimately, however, our teams are a reflection of the entire student body, and it is up to us–not only the teams involved–to ask if this tradition truly embodies Laker Pride.
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