Newly Formed Brooklyn College Cheerleading Team Brings Enthusiasm to Athletics

Brooklyn College Cheerleaders. (Top row, from left) Sherene Rance, Tanya St. Louis, Victoria Caharera, Heather Toussaint. (Bottom) Julia Mach, Shirley Blanc, Karroll King, Michelle Ragbasingh, Ornesha Watson.

More than two decades after the last squad of cheerleaders at Brooklyn College hung up their pom-poms, a new team has been organized and will soon be helping the Brooklyn teams to victory. Founded this past February by Tonika Simmons, a graduate student in physical education and exercise science, the team currently has eleven members, led by captains Julia Mach, a physical education and exercise science major, and Karroll King, who is studying economics. Additional tryouts will be held during the year.

According to Simmons, who organized the team by herself, the cheerleaders will attend all Brooklyn College basketball and volleyball games (men's and women's) and the men's soccer games. They will also appear at public events and support good relations in the community and between teams and squads during events. Although an all-women’s team now, they expect to incorporate men into the squad, especially for the more athletic gymnastics cheers.

Because cheerleading has become an athletic event in its own right, the squad will wear the traditional Brooklyn College maroon and gold during competitions with other cheer teams. Simmons was a star of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs cheer team and is the New York State director of the National Council for Spirit Safety and Education, an organization that provides safety training and certification for cheerleading coaches.

The goal is to have fun and support the school. “We want to be ambassadors for the College,” says team cocaptain Julia Mach.