A member of 2010 graduating class of Bridgeport High School, Chelsea Eades just entered her junior year at West Virginia University as a second-year member of the varsity cheer squad.

Supporting the gold and blue is right up her alley.

“I love the football games and just the atmosphere of it,” she said. “It’s really exciting - traveling to the football games and everything is a lot of fun.”

Dating former BHS football standout and current Mountaineer, Wes Tonkery, adds another perk to her cheering position, she said.

“We’ve dated since our senior year of high school. So that’s another cool thing about cheering.”

Eades began her cheer career at WVU as a freshman member of the blue squad.

“It’s kind of like the JV team. We cheered women’s basketball and also worked boxes at football games – getting fans drinks and food from the concession stand,” she said.

At the brink of her sophomore year, she made the varsity squad, cheering for varsity football and basketball.

Highlights of the 2011 season included traveling to NCAA tournaments and the Big East basketball tournament in New York City.
 

This being the debut year of WVU’s participation in the Big 12 Conference, Eades looks forward to more first-time experiences.

Today, she participates in “Countdown to Kick-Off” and on Wednesday, she’ll be part of the excitement of WVU’s very first Big 12 game – a 6:30 p.m. volleyball match against Texas.

Being on the squad involves several appearances throughout the community, including Coach Dana Holgorsen’s Statewide Sportsline Radio Show, which airs Thursdays, live from the Morgantown Events Center.

Eades is a model ambassador for the team, said her coach, Christy Davis.

“She’s one of the team members that I never have to worry about. I know she’s going to be there, be on time and be in game mode,” she said. “She has a gorgeous smile and great crowd leadership. I feel she represents our program and WVU extremely well. We look for those kids who are going to be good role models and she’s one of them.”

Eades’ talent and mentorship abilities are also exceptional, Davis said.

 

“With the partner stunt, I can put her with any guy and she not only can stunt with them, but helps train them,” she said. “In pyramids, I can use her in the middle or top layer and she flies just as good as she bases.”

Davis describes Eades as “sweet” and said she is a “quiet talent.”

“She gets along with everyone and she’s just a good kid. She’s coachable, has a good work ethic and is dedicated. We just love her,” Davis said. “And her performance speaks for itself. Some cheerleaders have big personalities and that seems to take over. Chelsea just gets it done and does what she is supposed to do.”

The varsity cheer team has 21 members; 12 women and nine men, Davis said.

They cheer home football and basketball games and rotate traveling duties.

“We take 12 cheerleaders to away football games and for basketball, I’m allowed to travel 12 to post-season tournaments,” Davis said. “This year, we’ll rotate that out between the Big 12 and NCAA. The only other game we travel for is the Capital Classic in Charleston and we get to take everyone to that.”

Cheering and tumbling have been a part of Eades’ life since she was a very little girl.

“I started gymnastics when I was like 3 years old and first cheered for Pop Warner football,” she said. “My brother played so I kind of grew up around it.”

She cheered for the Braves at Bridgeport Middle School and for the Indians all four years of high school.  The team climbed its way to a state runner-up position during her freshman and sophomore years.

Although she is small in size, Eades didn’t serve as a climber while cheering for the red and white.

“People are shocked when I tell them that I only based all four years of high school,” she said.

She said she liked the competitive aspect of high school cheerleading, but also appreciates the more laidback approach to cheering that she is experiencing at WVU.

“There’s no stress of competition, but we still practice a ton to get everything perfect,” she said.

Practices are three times per week at up to two and a half hours per session.

Eades loves firing up the crowd, performing for the band during time-outs and interacting with fans – including young aspiring WVU cheerleaders.

“Little kids are really a lot of fun. It’s cool having little girls come up to you and say they want to be like you one day,” she said. “They ask us all kinds of questions and do cartwheels for us.”

Cheering college has even more perks than meets the eye, Eades said.

“Interacting with people even helps with communication skills,” she said.

Eades is a dental hygiene major at WVU. She is the daughter of Kirk and Renee Eades of Bridgeport and the sister of Wes Eades.

 

Eades is pictured (cover and top) front row, third from right and just above, with WVU's Wes Tonkery.

 

Members of the 2012/13 WVU Varsity Gold Cheer Squad are Courtney Craig, Kristen Chafin, Haley Durkacz, Chelsea Eades, Ryan Houghkirk, Krysta Kemp, Kelsey Pennington, Amanda Stewart, Meredith Stucin, Carly Superick, Larissa Vlassich, Clayton Allison, Jeremy Bell, Justin Bell, Nathan Daniel, Alex Harris, Eric Jenkins, Kristopher Lankford, Nicholas Powell, John Rowley and alternate, Rachel Groggel.