Mount Pleasant Magazine Sept-Oct 2018

43 www.VoteBestOfMP.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.ClemsonCarolinaTickets.com feature time that night to present their gifts. We also unveiled our brand-new uniforms and had a team meeting to set the stage for camp. We felt that by the end of camp, they were a completely different team and were beginning to solidify,” Turner elaborated. The squad is looking forward to supporting the football and basketball teams this year. Competitions aren’t out of reach, with Turner looking at the possibility of attending a smaller competition, such as Can-Am in Myrtle Beach or attempting to get a video bid to the NCA Nationals in Daytona Beach, Florida, in April 2019. For football-player-turned-cheerleader-turned- cheerleading coach, Charleston Southern’s Richard German knows one thing: Cheering is tough. “I was a football player and I did track and field, so when I came into cheerleading in college, I kind of had the mentality that cheerleading wasn’t necessarily a sport – that it was just more of like a ‘support’ sport. But getting into cheerleading, I realized that it was harder than pretty much any football practice that I had in high school.” German started as assistant coach in 2014 and cheered at CSU from 2012 to 2014. He is now the head coach and has ambitious plans for both strengthening the team and integrating it into the community. German acknowledged the ever-changing world of cheerleading and the stiff competition and responded, “One way I’ve kept up with it [the competition] for CSU’s team is that since being assistant coach in 2014 and each year up until now, we’ve added extra practices and extra conditioning sessions to keep the girls in shape to where they can do those skills safely and make them look good.” Even while talking with German, his team was actually hard at work in a mini-camp preparing for the upcoming season. The week of their all-day camp consisted of workouts with their strength and condition coach, meeting for cheer review and “team time” to get acquainted and establish themselves as a unit. German and his squad have no plans for competition this season, as they are focused on rebuilding and strengthening, but they are looking forward to the regular games, hosting kiddy camps and participating in community service projects, such as a special needs walk/run. Reflecting on his favorite memory with the team, German stated, “This is my fifth year coaching, and I’ve gotten to see girls go from freshman through their senior year. It’s really just getting to see them grow up and become who they’re going to be the rest of their lives and having a part of that.” College of Charleston athletics have always impressed us, and their army of cheerleaders is no different. The team, led by Head Coach Amber Meteraud , continues to bring fresh, impressive stunts, routines and cheers to sporting events. And while the Cougars don’t have a football team, this cheer squad does its fair share of rallying fans and athletes at basketball games – kicking off the season with the always-exciting block party at the Cistern.