Reina Samos, a Senior cheerleader, decided to share her love for cheer with others who may not be able to easily access cheerleading facilities which are inclusive enough to share their needs. Her idea is “Inclusive Cheerleading,” a project which was about creating a space where students with intellectual and developmental disabilities can be fully included in varsity sports such as cheer.
“The idea for this project came from my passion for cheerleading and my belief that sports should be a place for everyone to shine. Traditionally, students with disabilities have always been given the opportunity to participate alongside their peers in unified sports only. This project seeks to change that, by creating a cheerleading team that not only welcomes them but also celebrates their unique contributions,” Samos explains.
Once she collected people who were interested, she began to come up with choreography and a cheer for the squad to perform at half-time, as well as sideline cheers to do throughout the game. “I wanted to come up with a really fun cheer that everyone could do, and that still incorporated some key cheer movements, I had to figure out how I could teach these cheers in a way that made sense to our special education students, and that they could learn and remember within two practices.”
Something that helped the students was associating colors with words and movements. When the squad cheered “go blue,” they raised the arm holding a blue pom-pom, when they cheered “go gold”, they raised the arm holding a gold pom-pom. Samos used color coordination, which has been proven by multiple studies helps special education students to memorize and learn certain activities.
“It’s about creating opportunities and breaking down stereotypes. It’s my hope that this project will inspire others to think about how we can continue on making all sports and activities more inclusive.”
