Pom poms and cheers were missing from the fields of Chico State until the establishment of the Chico State cheerleading team in 2011.

The team was originally founded by Rachelle Currier, who felt a lack of school spirit. The endeavor was meant to bring excitement back to the fans of Chico State athletics.

The cheer team is primarily covering men’s and women’s soccer but plans to begin covering basketball once it starts its season Nov. 2.

Cheering for the basketball team is the highlight of the year according to senior cheer captain Maija Lazenby.

“This is my fourth year on the team and my favorite sport to cheer for is basketball. The crowd is more involved and pumped up and the crowd atmosphere is always fun, especially when we have rival games against Sonoma and Humboldt state,” Lazenby said.

Since she began the team, Lazenby said that she has seen the team expand across sports and become a larger part of the Chico State community.

“We didn’t participate at soccer games or perform at Battle of the Locals, these are things I feel that I’ve helped the team achieve during my time on the team,” Lazenby said.

Ashlyn Bartlett, a junior on the team, said that the team has practice four days a week, which greatly impacts her schedule.

Barlett also said that the team is still growing, and is excited to begin cheering for other sports, instead of just soccer and basketball.

“We don’t do volleyball or baseball yet but we aren’t opposed to doing it. We typically cheer for men and women’s soccer with both men and women’s basketball as well,” Barlett said.

Senior Maeve Castle was among several students at Chico State who did not know that the school had a cheerleading team, but was eager to join after learning about it.

“I heard about the team through social media wanted to join them. I didn’t really know that we had one, but I had cheerleading experience already,” Castle said.

The team’s dedication to fund-raising and helping out the community of Chico on and off the field is the main reason Castle said she joined.

“We like being a part of the school spirit it gives us more time to be a part of the community by performing on campus and local events, and helping local schools with their cheer teams,” Castle said.

Along with practice and a busy school schedule, the Chico State cheerleading team manages to find time to help out its community through fundraising and teaching. The dedication to helping the people of Chico and bringing more excitement to sporting events makes the team an important part of the community.

Jordan Jarrell can be reached at [email protected] or @ChicoOrionJJ on Twitter.