Most of the time, Rye Country Day seems to be a school full of spirit during community events. RCDS takes pride in spirit weeks and sports events that have a spirit theme for the game, which many students from all grades show up to support. This would make one wonder: why are there no cheerleaders encouraging this for a school that revels in its spirit?

Head of the Athletic Department Wendy Haft said that anytime a new sport is started at RCDS, the number of student-athletes must be taken into consideration. Haft explained that starting a new sport can draw away athletes from their sport during that season, or in general, there might not be enough athletes for said new sport. For instance, a couple of years ago when track and field was added to the spring sports, there ended up being no JV boys or girls lacrosse teams anymore because of the number of athletes who switched sports. Haft also mentioned there is a budget to be considered, among other things. One thing the school does to keep track of the number of student-athletes is to create a survey that students complete at the start of a year. There are all the current sports options, in addition to new sports. This makes it possible to see how many people are looking to participate in each sport and if there is interest in a new sport.

While there are many answers on the topic of having a cheer team at RCDS, many people would be glad to have one. People explained how it would be nice to have cheerleaders at sports events and how it would help to get more students involved. When doing an anonymous survey, 84% of the students said that they don’t see why there is no cheerleading, whereas only 16% of the community said that there should not be cheerleaders. 

Another thing taken into consideration is the role a cheer squad would have here. There are many different types of cheerleading at the high school level. There is competitive cheerleading, where the team takes part in competing routines, and there is cheering for other sports. If the cheer team were to do the latter, they would cheer at games for multiple RCDS sports including the football team, field hockey, boys and girls soccer, and volleyball. 

If the sport could fit into the school’s budget, the question that remains is would RCDS have enough students to start a cheerleading squad?