Game day is an event enjoyed campus wide by students, alumni and faculty but a lot of work goes into making it a successful production beyond the competing athletes. CWU cheer and marching band play a huge role in the production of game day and have a unique perspective to offer.

Sophomore cheerleader Gracie Glover said her favorite part of gameday is the roar from the student section. 

“My favorite part of game day is interacting with the crowd and watching everybody get excited for the game,” Glover said. “I feel like the better the student section is, the more excited we are and the better the team does.”

A lot of work goes into preparing for game day performances for CWU cheerleading. Glover said practices are many hours of work going into the performances we see at games. 

“We run, and we practice our cheers and stunts a lot,” Glover said. 

Another key piece of making game days run the way they do is marching band. Junior snare drum player Nathan Sauther said game days are a time where they can show off what they have been working on.

 “The games are always a lot of fun,” Sauther said. “We put in a lot of work to get the show together so the game day is kind of a fun day where we get to relax and show what we’ve been putting together.”

According to Sauther, not every halftime show is the exact same, and we should be expecting new material on the way.

 “The cool thing is that we’re not doing the same shows,” Sauther said. “We’re gonna learn a new halftime show for the next game, and another one for the one after that. It will be something new which is something to look forward to. It will be good no doubt because our director really knows what he’s doing..”  

All of this new material requires many hours of practice and rehearsal to perfect and prepare for what is seen on the field on game days. 

CWU cheer will be performing at halftime for the upcoming homecoming game on Oct. 23. This year CWU cheer will have a presence at football games as well as men and women’s basketball games.

There are many collaborating efforts to make game days the experience it is. All of the hard work from both CWU cheer and marching band will be showcased at upcoming home games, so come out and show support.