Perhaps you’ve seen him wandering the halls, in class, or cheering at football games with his sparkly cheer box. Liberty has recently acquired their first male cheerleader in years: Bruce Vagt.
“I was sort of just joking around last year about how I was going to join the team,” Vagt said. “But it’s my senior year, so I decided I might as well have some fun with it and try something new.”
It is definitely something new for everyone on the team. Most of the girls are unfamiliar when it comes to working with a male cheerleader.
Vagt’s job is to do stunts with the flyer—the cheerleader being tossed in the air—and get students excited about the games.
“I focus more on crowd development than cheers,” Vagt said.
Liberty’s football games are packed full of enthusiastic fans eagerly waiting to cheer on their team, and, with Bruce’s encouragement, the stands burst with spirit.
As far as the rest of the team goes, Liberty has been experiencing a great season so far.
“The cheer team has been doing amazing this year,” Vagt said. With senior captains June Ricks and Madison Ackley leading the team, the cheerleaders are hoping to improve tremendously.
“They’re both pretty energetic and positive, so they became really good role models for the rest of the team,” head coach Camille Wright said. “Because half the squad is returners, there’s not much I have to reteach, and we’re able to do more extensive stunts this year.”
The cheer team looks forward to showing off these new stunts at Liberty’s football and basketball games.