Cheering for Caiden

In Spring 2022, Caiden became the first male cheerleader in Eastside Catholic School history to sign a letter of intent to continue his sport at the collegiate level. Caiden will attend the University of Michigan on a four-year Army ROTC scholarship while continuing to cheer.

He first became interested in the sport after spending time around competitive cheer because of his sister’s involvement. He began to cheer in the eighth grade, "It sounded like fun and would keep me busy." As he wasn’t involved in another sport at the time, it worked well for him to devote his time to cheer and getting up to speed which eventually led to him trying out for a club team.

"Cheerleading is a year-round sport and I love that. You’re so dependent on your teammates, it’s not like a lot of other sports where a teammate can make a mistake and you can compensate for it. When doing your routine, everyone has to be perfect, and you have to trust that everyone is going to do their job and that you’re going to do your job. I feel like this aspect builds a bond with your teammates that you don’t get in a lot of other sports."

Cheerleading has taught me that I perform well under pressure and that I need to be able to rely on other people.

Caiden has been the sole male on the cheerleading team since he started at EC, "Being the only guy was kind of weird for me at first, especially because I was the only freshman on the varsity team. But I knew some of the girls from my eighth-grade club cheer team which helped. The girls were super friendly, and my teammates helped me feel welcome." He received some skepticism at first, but his teammates helped him overcome it. Caiden said, "Once people saw me doing backflips, lifts and working with the cheer squad, the responses changed to more like, 'oh, that’s actually pretty cool.' And from there, the negative feedback lessened."

He said one of the highlights of his four years of cheering in high school was winning the world competition in Florida his freshman year. "Cheerleading has taught me that I perform well under pressure and that I need to be able to rely on other people. I think it’s taught me that other people also rely on me to lift them up when they are struggling. In general, cheerleading has taught me discipline, responsibility, perseverance and coachability."

When Caiden heads off to college in the fall, he will be cheering, and will also be a member of the Michigan ROTC for which he was awarded a four-year scholarship. As a ROTC, he will be involved in morning training and once per month field exercises over weekends. After graduating, depending on the job he selects, he’ll serve four to six years of active duty as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army.

Cheerleading has taught me that other people also rely on my to lift them up when they are struggling.

Head Cheer Coach Courtney Christie said, "We are so proud of everything that Caiden has done in his time at EC. He has grown into such a confident and caring young man. He is a great example of everything a Crusader should be, a natural leader for his team, an ambassador for his school, and a determined individual. We are so sad to see him leave, but so excited to see all the amazing things he will do in the future."

Reprinted from EC Magazine.