WBU Launching Competitive Cheer
Release written by Brett Cooper, Vice President for Creative Services & Technology/Special Assistant to the President
Williams Baptist University has announced that, starting this fall, it will launch a competitive cheer squad. WBU has hired Emily Wisby of Paragould, Ark., as coach of the team, and recruiting is already underway.
"Competitive cheer is completely different from your standard 'sideline squad,'" Wisby stated. "Competitive cheer is a team of 20 athletes, male and female, that organize a routine of complex skills, travel to competitions, and perform their routine to the best of their ability."
Wisby began serving at WBU this year as coach of the sideline cheer squad, which she will continue to do, and she said she was eager to take on the task of starting a competitive cheer team at Williams, as well.
"I am blessed to be given the opportunity to help make this happen. I was a competitive cheerleader, and I am so thankful to get to share my love for cheerleading with such an amazing group of athletes, while working alongside such supportive faculty and administration. Williams Baptist University is definitely the place to be," she said.
Wisby was a cheerleader at Arkansas State University, where she graduated. She has experience as both an athlete and coach on all-star competitive cheerleading squads through Priscilla's Cheer & Tumbling in Paragould.
Director of Athletics Jeff Rider said the competitive cheer squad presented a natural next addition for the university's growing athletic department.
"We are excited about what competitive cheer will bring to the WBU campus, and we welcome it into the Eagles athletic program. Coach Wisby is an energetic leader with the experience we need in the field of competitive cheer. We look forward to great things from this squad," Rider said.
Wisby said anyone who is interested in being a part of the competitive cheer squad can contact her at ewisby@williamsbu.edu for more details on joining the team.
Wisby noted, "Our number one goal as a spirit squad, which includes the sideline squad, competition squad and mascot, is to increase the school spirit on campus and to support all of the athletic and non-athletic programs at Williams Baptist University, while growing our relationship with Christ and being a positive light for our university and the community."
WBU is a private, Christian university in Walnut Ridge, Ark.