When your last name is Hathaway and you’re from Bridgeport then chances are good you know a thing or two about sports. If you’re in that same family, you probably know what a sports team looks like.

 

Natalie Hathaway is from that family. She knows a few things about sports. She knows exactly what a sports team looks like.

 

It’s because of that Hathaway has a little bit of heartburn. Before going further for those of you that don’t know, Hathaway is the coach of the 2019 Class AA state champion Bridgeport cheerleading squad. And she knows she doesn’t need the WVSSAC to call cheerleading a sport to be a sport.

 

“It’s been recognized as a sport for as long as I can remember by the SSAC even though I understand there was a time that it wasn’t,” said Hathaway. “You would hope after the change happened people would simply recognize it as a sport, but there are still some out there that simply don’t want to lump these students into the student-athlete category.”

 

There lies the heartburn. Take it from the father of a former high school cheerleader, these are athletes. Cheering is a sport. In fact, it may be the cruelest of all sports and the most difficult to succeed in. I’ll get to that shortly.

 

Hathaway is no stranger to the ways of the sports world. Long before she ever ventured into the realm of a cheerleader herself – a member of the 2005 and 2006 squad, one of which was a runner-up in Class AAA – at BHS, Hathaway grew up at a household with her parents Jeff and Janet Hathaway. She was in a house with brothers B.R. and Brett Hathaway.

 

Whether at the table or in the living room or outside, sports were almost always on the plate.

 

“I grew up watching football mainly and I love it and my brothers love it too. They know what sports are and they know cheering is a sport,” said Hathaway, who has been coaching since 2017. “During competition my brothers text me and tell me different things they noticed, and they get into it. They know quite a bit. They know it’s a sport.”

 

So, what’s the problem?

 

Hathaway’s dismay stems partially from many refusing to acknowledge it as a sport as well having a little angst from statewide media sources often not utilizing cheer events on the sports pages or during sports segments on television. She said that’s where it belongs even if she understands where some of the thinking comes from.

 

“The thinking, in my mind, comes from the majority not seeing the competitive side of what we do. Cheering is still thought of being at games and lending support during games, which we understand isn’t part of the sport. The squad loves that part, too” said Hathaway., “Outside of those that support us, and our community and the other student-athletes at Bridgeport do big time, most have no idea about the competitive side of it. It’s not just us, it’s every squad.”

 

Cheerleading is grueling. Don’t believe it? Ask former cheerleaders. Ask family members. Ask current members. They, like any other athlete, are banged up and bruised constantly with aches and pains they go to bed with and wake up with daily.

 

“No one sees what they put their bodies through and how they condition, get in shape and just how hard it is to do this,” she said. “Then there are some who have a misconception of what competitive cheerleading is because it has evolved so much from what it used to be decades ago.”

 

If you’re still not convinced, maybe this will help understand the fierce competitive nature. Success in cheerleading is arguably the most difficult to obtain amongst SSAC sports. It’s not because those competing work more or less on any other intangible, it’s because of the time frame in which cheer squads have to succeed.

 

There are no timeouts. There is no regular season schedule. You can’t draw up a play on the fly.

 

You want to qualify for the state tournament? In cheerleading, you have roughly three minutes to get the job done.

 

Hathaway said the crowded regional field allows for each squad to do a 30 to 40 second technical cheer followed by a two-and-a-half-minute routine.

 

If you can top the multiple other squads to finish in the top two teams you earn a trip to the state tournament now being held in Huntington. What is the reward once you get there? You get the same time frame to do it again.

 

“It’s very stressful because you don’t get to ask a referee for a timeout, so you have to work hard to control your nerves,” said Hathaway. “You have to prepare to the point where you’re almost overprepared to potentially ease those nerves.”

 

This year, Hathaway said BHS participated in an extra competition (primarily due to having such a young team) to help calm any potential nerves heading into the regional event. She said she thinks that helped.

 

“The kids know they have one shot and that adds a mental aspect to the competition along with the physical part of it,” the coach said. “As it turned out in our competitions, the kids handled it well. They loved performing, performing as athletes, in front of people.”

 

Those making the most of their opportunity this year were seniors Addison Boggs, Miranda Kress, and Alyson Gibson; sophomores Lilly Strait, Lillian Iaquinta, Rylee Mullins, Jade Nguyen, Lauran Johnston, Gyllian Wagner, and Emilia Underwood; and freshmen Andie McCall, Sally Hamrick, Abigail Davis, Lexi Wilkinson, Brynna Greathouse, and Abbey Clifton.

 

The extra prep work – along with hard work and support and words of encouragement from family and friends.

 

Hathaway said she recalls her father’s support. She remembers him telling her about watching her perform when she was younger and the words still stick with her to this day. It’s a reason she knows cheering deserves everyone – from the public, to the media or any other unnamed entity – to call it a sport.

 

“When I was young my dad, who was coaching football, would watch us do a quick cheer and if it was good he would tell me he would like to get his team to do something perfect for seven seconds,” she said. “That’s always in my mind because we have to try to be perfect, all the squads in the state, for three minutes. If you’re lucky and good enough, you get to have three minutes in the regional and three more minutes at states. I don’t know of any other sport that has that scenario.”

 

There isn’t one. It doesn’t make it better or worse than any other sport. And it doesn’t make it a sport, neither does the WVSSAC classifying it as one.

 

It was a sport long before that. It will be a sport well after that. Besides, the students that compete have everything to prove it on the physical and mental front. At Bridgeport High School this year, they also have a Class AA State title – a sports state title mind you – to prove it.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Natalie Hathaway celebrating with her team shortly after winning the state title, while the other pictures are action shows fro the state competition by Ben Queen Photography.  Bottom picture is the team shot just after winning the title.