College How To Engage The Crowd In College?

[ZetaQueen]

Hi! So I'm a college cheerleader and my team cannot seem to get the crowd to respond or become energetic at games (I never had this issue in high school). To be honest we do not even really have a student section which I find really sad considering we're a D1 team but students don't seem interested in coming to the games. I was wondering if anyone has ideas for how to effectively engage with a college crowd in general; the cheerleaders in the past didn't seem to worry that the crowd wasn't engaged or enthusiastic but I just find it kinda sad. Please, I'm desperate for ideas and I really want games to be more fun in the future.

 

[ScottyB]

Couple things you could try:

-reach out to the athletic department, specifically the game day experience or game marketing group. they are the ones that can order rally towels, organize giveaways, etc. Tell them your goals, I am sure they would be excited to get you all involved in making their job easier (or they'll tell you go away and now you know why the students don't care)
-plan events around the games to get students at them:

-tailgate
-concert
-free food (always works)
-free swag
-sweepstakes​

-get up in the stands and cheer. dig deep for your roots as a cheerleader and lead the crowd into cheering. It will be painful and annoying at first but the crowd will eventually respond.
-reach out to the sports team you cheer for, players or coaches, they want a crowd present too, maybe you can plan something to get students to come out.

​

 

[dat.jpp]

Dumb idea but how about bringing a spectator down with you guys and they can cheer with you?

 

[DonnaM]

Do you have a pep band for non-football events? Ideally, the band should work very closely with the cheerleaders for stand activities, and a band can help rally the crowd. If you don't, you might want to talk to the music department. There's probably some upper division or grad student who would enjoy conducting such a group, and kids who would volunteer for it. It doesn't have to be the full marching band-even 20 musicians adds a lot to an event. Playing short dances with repetitive movements and a small amount of chant that the cheerleaders lead can rally the crowd and keep them connected when the music stops. And that also saves the strain on the cheerleaders voices a bit, too.

Use your mascot, if you have one, too.

Consider starting a pep club, or encourage the clubs and organizations to get involved. Don't forget that there are organizations beyond the Greek system, too-having a freshman dorm get preferred seating and maybe t-shirts and cheap pompoms or shakers for them can give you a bunch of assistant cheerleaders. If you rotate for games, likely many will still go when it's not their week. If you can preteach some chants, even better.