I am on the Villanova Cheerleading team so my first college basketball game was a little different than most. Instead of pre-gaming and getting ready for the game with all my friends, I was warming up before the game and stressing about running the flags during timeouts. I was extremely nervous about this game. I had always watch the Nova basketball games on TV, but now I would actually be at one! There are nine TV timeouts in total throughout the game. For four of the timeouts, cheer and dance run onto the court and perform stunts and dances to entertain the crowd. We had ran through our stunt sequence a couple times, but it is still very nerve-wreaking when you are actually out on the court in front of the entire crowd. I am also new to basing so some of the stunts we did last night, I had never done before which I was stressing about. On top of that I had to learn all the basketball cheers and game rituals the student section and band does.

On a more positive note, the game was insane! It lived up to all my expectations. The crowd was crazy and of course, the basketball team played amazing. It was surreal to actually be by the court watching these players in real life. In the middle of the game, I realized how lucky I am to get to be a cheerleader at Villanova and experience the games like I do. The atmosphere is something not many schools experience. Not only is the student section extremely into the game, but all the other fans are as well.

I can't wait for this season and am already counting down the days til the Ohio game in Wells Fargo!