Mount Pleasant Magazine Sept-Oct 2018

41 www.VoteBestOfMP.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.ClemsonCarolinaTickets.com feature Speaking of all Clemson’s hard work, let’s move on to the University of South Carolina , where Head Coach Erika Goodwin turns up the heat year after year with her impressive squad. Goodwin began her coaching at USC in 2004, and her love for cheer at the school runs deep – she was a cheerleader there herself while she was working on her undergraduate degree. She also cheered at the University of Louisville while she was in graduate school. The USC squad puts in the work, sacrificing summer hours starting July 30. “We compete nationally, which involves each athlete to be highly skilled in the techniques of stunting and tumbling,” stated Goodwin. This time together gives new members ample opportunity to become comfortably acquainted with their team members. “We attended NCA College Camp to conclude our first two weeks together. They are very familiar with each other prior to the start of the season,” said Goodwin. While the USC cheer squad is no doubt talented and hardworking, their top priority has not changed all these years: supporting Gamecock athletics. And with that priority in mind, they are certainly anticipating this football season. “We look forward to every game we attend to cheer on our Gamecocks. We are very much looking forward to the start of football season and getting back into Williams- Brice Stadium in front of all of Gamecock Nation,” Goodwin said. The squad also has its focus set on competing at the NCA National Collegiate Championships in April 2019, where this past year, the all-girl team placed second and the co-ed team placed fourth. The squads that cheer on The Citadel Bulldogs, College of Charleston Cougars and Charleston Southern Buccaneers bring their own brand of talent and history to the sport of cheer. The Citadel cheer squad grew in stages, mainly because it originated as an all-male military college. In 1985, a bill was presented to the South Carolina General Assembly proposing that the all-male college “metamorphose” into a co-ed college. In 1988, a cheer squad was formed of young women from the community and the College of Charleston until, eventually, there were female cadets who wanted to cheer. The squad has made impressive leaps and bounds since then. Dawn Turner now heads up the program, along with Assistant Coaches Fraser Speaks and Aimee Chapman, picking up the reigns in January of 2018. Turner served as the cheer coach at Francis Marion University, her alma mater, and after that as the advisor South Carolina Head Coach Erika Goodwin and Assistant Coach Chris Hartshorn surrounded by team members.