Ever since Big Sky became a high school in 1980, athletics have been separated as male and female sports. But this year the narrative has changed, as sophomores Dawson Raulston and Carter Stufflebeam and Freshmen Brody Foland and Elijah Buckles have become the first male Big Sky cheerleaders.

I’ve been able to hear so many great things from these men about cheerleading and it has shown, as Carter Stufflebeam even quit the football team in order to do cheerleading full time, sadly as he did so he broke his foot falling out of a tree just days later. Even some freshmen have gotten in on the action with Foland and Buckles joining later in the cheerleading season. It has been a great experience, says Foland, “I’m definitely going to stick with it throughout my whole high school career.”

For a sport where you have to wake up very early for practice, this is a huge statement. But Brody likes to keep a good attitude

Cheerleading has been around since the 1860s, starting in Great Britain and finally making its way to the Americas in the 1880s. Back then it was men who started cheerleading, but as time has passed it has obviously become a girl-dominated sport due to flexibility, weight, and pure dance and gymnastic skills.

Is having men cheer truly a good thing, knowing everything that goes into it? While men may not be as flexible as women, men bring a different skill set with strength. They are able to lift the flyers up with ease and hold with one hand, which is something the female cheerleaders normally can’t do.

Even with all the complex things cheerleaders need and have to do, it’s still not seen as a sport. But Raulston says that cheer is actually harder than some people imagine. “The stuff we do in football is not even that difficult compared to the stuff we do in cheer.”

Also, many people think that males in a female prevalent sport would cause distractions, but freshman MaKenna Fulford, shoots down all these concerns. “The boys definitely help out more and so it’s different in a good way.”

Men joining the cheer team may not seem like a big deal for other high schools but it has definitely made history here at Big Sky, it has also paved the way for more students to experiment with different sports and find new interests. This is the beginning of a new era of Big Sky sports and the start of change in the status quo.