Fast forward to Sept. 5. The Oregon Ducks are hosting the Eastern Washington Eagles in the first football game of the 2015-2016 season. The Ducks will likely be trotting out in flashy new uniforms adorned with wing designs and Nike swooshes. The fans will be raucous — as they are at every game in Autzen Stadium.
A human pathway of smiling women will greet the players as they run onto the field — the Oregon cheerleaders, making their return to support Oregon athletics since the 2014-2015 basketball season ended. And when the cheerleaders return, so will the controversy surrounding their appearance.
According to their official website, the Oregon cheerleaders are the “Ambassadors of the University of Oregon.”
But some people don’t think that the cheer team is sending the right message.
In a March board of trustees meeting, board member Ginevra Ralph brought up the subject of the cheerleaders during a discussion about sexual assault on campus. She said that she has seen people become uncomfortable with the cheerleaders to the point where some have to leave the arena due to their dancing routines.
“I have watched basketball crowds appreciate the athleticism of the male and female cheerleaders doing their cheer routines,” Ralph said in a media statement. “But then watched the same crowd often be uncomfortable and embarrassed by the sexualized dance routines.”
Ralph worries that the provocative nature of the cheerleaders at the UO is unhealthy for the campus culture.
“Where, if anywhere, does the overt sexuality with the bump-and-grind, pelvic-thrusting dancing that the female cheerleader and dance squads feature in their routines fit in this context?”, Ralph said.
This is not the first time controversy has surrounded the cheerleaders at the UO based on their attire and their dance moves. But former Oregon cheerleaders and athletic staff say the routines and outfits are something seen in cheerleading around the country. They also say showing skin is necessary for their performance.
Senior Associate Athletic Director Craig Pintens said that if you were to look at collegiate cheerleading at most institutions, you would see that the dance moves and the uniforms are very similar.
Jackie Chelf, a 2013 alumna of the UO and a cheerleader for four years, disagrees with Ralph’s comments.
Chelf, who now works at Nike as an account manager, said that the cheerleaders are athletes who practice every day like other athletes at the UO.
“We’ve donated hours of our lives to what is actually a sport,” she said. “We don’t just wear midriff and shake pompoms.”
Chelf started cheerleading in high school after being a dancer since the first grade. Before cheering, she danced studio, company, acrobatics, modern, ballet, tap and every other kind of dance she could. She also did gymnastics.
In fact, Chelf said that almost everyone on the Oregon cheerleading team had a background in dancing. The routines are difficult enough that a background in dance is almost a requirement. Many of the cheerleaders are trained to do pirouettes, kick-turns and leaps, which are oftentimes put into the dance routines.
According to Chelf, who roomed with current dance coach Michelle Berg when she was at Oregon, the cheerleaders dance a mixture of hip-hop and jazz. She also pointed out that there are many dance clubs at the UO that dance the same style as the cheerleaders do.
“Track athletes are wearing itty-bitty shorts and no one says anything,” Chelf said. “Cheerleading is just easy to pick on.”
Another thing that some dislike is the midriff-baring tops. According to Chelf, the uniforms are a functional design for stunt girls. When the stunt guy is grabbing the hips and waist of the stunt girl to perform a stunt, the skin contact gives him a better grip.
“When you have a shirt, it could slip,” Chelf said. “And it’s a big deal when you are at a five hour long game.”
Austin Parr, Chelf’s former stunt partner at the UO, agreed.
“Having excess material can hinder the safety of the guys catching,” Parr said. “Guys break fingers because they are caught up in a shirt. They get twisted and caught up in the fabric.”
In fact, Parr said that the stunt guys would ask their partner to either roll up their shirt or tuck it into their shorts at practice because it’s a safety hazard.
After graduating in 2012, Parr competed internationally for a year and was part of the Portland Trail Blazers’ stunt team.
“Competition girls are wearing less clothing than in collegiate cheer,” Parr said. “The skills are more technical and difficult.”
Acrobatics and tumbling is a sport where the athletes do some stunts that are similar to those done in cheerleading, but the athletes do not show midriff.
Before becoming the head coach at Baylor University, Felecia Mulkey was the head acrobatics and tumbling coach at the UO and guided the Ducks to a 43-3 record. While at the UO, she helped to develop the sport of acrobatics and tumbling. Mulkey said it was a conscious decision to not have uniforms that exposed the athletes’ midriff.
“We wanted to set ourselves apart from the cheerleaders,” Mulkey said.
But how do the acrobatics and tumbling athletes avoid slips and injuries?
According to Mulkey, the use of gloves by the bases and the use of more hand-to-hand lifts, as opposed to lifting from the waist, helps to reduce the risk of injury while the athletes perform.
“Even though our skills are similar,” Mulkey said about the relationship between the stunts in both cheerleading and acrobatics and tumbling. “It’s still very different.”
When asked about the functionality of midriff tops in cheerleading, USA Cheer President Bill Seely responded by saying that there is no study to demonstrate that bare midriffs enhance performance, but athletes might prefer it over wearing a full body uniform.
When it comes to being “Ambassadors of the University of Oregon,” Chelf said that the cheerleaders had to represent themselves in a positive way that makes the university look good. The cheerleaders are busy almost every weekend. They go to birthday parties, functions and they give away awards. Chelf said that she almost never had a free weekend in four years at the UO.
Parr said that cheerleaders have an interesting situation in universities.
“I feel the cheerleaders do a good job of holding the university to the high standard,” Parr said. “The way they hold themselves and the way they market the university. The cheerleaders are the first face for the university at games. It does a great job in attracting positive attention to the UO.”
Pintens said that the cheerleaders do a lot of work for the university in the community. They attend different events throughout the state of the Oregon to benefit both the athletic department and the UO as a whole.
Neither head coach Dana Guthrie nor Berg was made available for comment.
“I did it for three years. Every year, they get some heat,” Parr said about the controversy surrounding the cheerleaders. “It never affected how they did their jobs. Never affected the popularity or publicity that the UO got.”
Follow Nik Streng on Twitter @HeelNikStreng