The Fresno City College cheer/stunt team discussed their experiences and challenges outside and inside of cheer. Valuing the positive team environment, they aim to improve team dynamics and form new relationships, while also balancing academics.

“I love meeting new people and getting to know their personalities, not just, you know, being on the team with them and sharing with them. I like to get to actually know them personally. and yeah, all the different people that come on this team, because we’re all different,” said Fabianna Montoya, a member of the cheer/stunt team.

Creating bonds and having a familial relationship with each other helps build trust with one another and form tight friendships. 

“I love that we’re all like a family, and we all care about each other and make friendships,” said Chloe Rios, a member of the team.

The team talked about their challenges through tough practices and how they overcome them. 

“The only challenges that I face is just being too tough myself when I’m not doing my best as I should be,” said Alexis Arafiles, a member of the team.

Montoya mentioned how she overcame her injury from maintaining a skill during competition season.

“One challenge I did face was I got hurt, like, in the beginning of competition season, I hurt my knee, and that was kind of a challenge, just because, you know, I fell and so falling kind of scares me to do another skill and keep doing it. So that was a challenge to overcome after I got injured,” Montoya said.

Head Coach Rachel White talked about the challenges with adapting higher skills for the team.

 “Skills are pretty challenging, just coming from high school. It’s a lot different than college, so we’re adapting to the higher skills and more advanced skills,” White said.

Throughout their cheer practice, motivating one another is an important aspect of the team to help each other stay on track and help out when they need it.

“We basically tell them to get their, you know, stuff together and that it’s a practice, like it’s not, don’t take anything personal really, just put the effort in, and since everybody’s here, just show up,” Arafiles said.

White discussed how she motivates the team through tough practices.

“I try my best, I give them moments to talk to each other, motivate each other, even though I get my wise words out sometimes, but I usually let them work together as a team to make things work and really lead a team dynamic,” White said.

Balancing schoolwork with cheer is an important responsibility to maintain so athletes can be on track with their classes but also staying on track with events going on for cheer.

“Well, I’m a student-athlete, so student comes first. So just make sure that I prioritize my work first before I get to practice, and if it ever becomes overwhelming, I have my coaches here to assist me with school,” Arafiles said.

Inside of the team they have goals they accomplished and goals they still have to overcome.

“I feel like the goal that we accomplished was gaining connections with each other. At first, it’s a very hard dynamic because, you know, everyone’s different, and I feel like that was a goal that I do have for us is just to keep pushing, and for me is to just trust the people underneath you,” Montoya said.

Montoya mentioned how she balances schoolwork with cheer practice and events.

 “I feel like ever since I have done a sport, I’ve always gotten used to maintaining them, so I just kind of, I try not to think about it too much. I like to set my schedule, because that helps me know what I have next or what I have to do,” Montoya said.

Mental health is also a main role for balancing school work and cheer so players don’t push themselves too hard to become overwhelmed.

 “I say just focusing on your mental health,” said Darrell Austin, a member of the team.

Outside of their practice, they are putting their biggest smile for football season on the field and showing their impressive skills.

“My favorite part is seeing everyone’s smiles, just makes my day and it makes my job better,” Austin said.

Rios also discussed her favorite part about cheering at the football games. 

“I like the crowd, but then I also like watching and like being closer,” Rios said.

Competition cheer involves teams performing a routine of stunts, tumbling, jumps and competing against other national teams. White discussed a goal she has for the team before they take on competition cheer in 2026.

“My goal would just be hitting your skills and then making sure everyone is confident in what they’re doing,” White said, “I want to tell them, good job, you know I’m proud of them, and they got it this season.”