The Ventura College cheerleaders have had an amazing run this year, winning championships along with winning a national title.
The VC squad’s success comes primarily from the cheerleaders themselves, but one person who deserves credit is Coach Kristen Clemmons.
“I always wanted to coach college, because it’s more fun and you can do a lot more with stunts,” said Clemmons. “It has been a great overall experience. It’s been fun to coach such a great squad.”
Clemmons, who attended Ventura College and was captain of the squad when she was attending school right before she went to UCLA, emphasizes hard work to her squad and any other student who plans on coming here.
The cheerleading programs at all three campuses each differ from one another on many different levels; one group experiences great success by winning championships and national titles, while another faces the problem of low enrollment. The one thing that all three squads share is that they are there to work.
With the success Ventura College’s cheer squad has experienced, it’s difficult for both Oxnard and Moorpark College to keep up.
Moorpark College’s cheer squad, coached by Traycie Kephart, finds it hard to believe that not too long ago cheerleading was considered a class instead of a club.
“It became a club rather than a class due to the budget cuts that the campuses faced,” said Kephart. “I’m really optimistic that next semester this will be a class again rather than a club.”
This past semester, Moorpark College’s squad had 20 people on the team who cheered at some of Moorpark’s athletic events, including many football games. Unlike Ventura College, Moorpark does not seem to have the right number of people to compete in competitions. However, that may soon change.
Oxnard College’s squad has gone through its ups and downs. This past year, cheerleading was brought back after it had been forgotten for several years, but, at Moorpark College, it is only offered as a “quasi club.”
“It’s hard to keep this together,” said Jerry White, athletic director and advisor to the cheerleading squad at Oxnard College. “This is the first time that we have had it back for quite some time.”
The main reason that cheerleading has been revitalized at Oxnard College is because of the constant urge and request from the students.
“This has been more student driven than anything else,” said White. “As long as the students want it then it will last, but if the interest for it goes down then so does the class.”
Tryouts for all three campuses differ, so to find out, students can call their college’s athletic department.
“Advice that I would give to new students already in college and high school students is that they should expect to work hard,” said Clemmons. “We work-out in the weight room; we do a lot of endurance training and a lot of tumbling.”
