At 31-years old, Christian Collins might be the oldest male cheerleader in college.
He's not entirely sure.
But what he is sure about is that he is going to realize a dream this weekend that wasn't even on his radar just a few years ago.
It's a cold, blustery Wednesday night in East Lansing and Collins, a first-year member of the Michigan State Cheerleading team, is doing his part to prepare for the UCA College Nationals in Orlando, Florida with his team.
Spartans are flipping around the room.
Green and White aerials, cupies, and dismounts.
Young women flying through the air.
Smiles all around as the team attempts to complete a routine with elite precision.
All synchronized, planned, and perfected.
And there is Collins, a steady, trusted hand at the base.
While at practice, on the mat, or hanging around teammates, Collins is simply known as “Oregon,” the namesake of the school he transferred from.
While at the University of Oregon, Collins was a triple major in global studies, anthropology and Asian studies all while minoring in history and environmental studies. Now at MSU, he is double-majoring in anthropology and global and international relations.
“I really like people,” Collins said about why he chose anthropology. “I really like interacting with people.”
His passion for global and international relations comes from something totally different: the military.
Collins served active duty in the United States Air Force for six years. He even did a deployment in Afghanistan. Collins is currently in his fourth year in the national guard and is planning on staying involved in it for the next 20 years.
Collins is now 31 years old and an Air Force veteran but his elderly status compared to the average college student doesn’t slow him down.
“I might be the oldest guy cheerleader in college, honestly,” Collins said with a smile. “I don’t know of anyone older than me. There’s some who are close but I’m not aware of any.”
Collins started cheerleading when he was 27 years old. This is only his fourth year of cheerleading.
“It looked like fun,” Collins said about why he started. “It looked like an interesting way to make friends and family so I started that at Oregon and then obviously when I transferred here I really wanted to be a part of this because we didn’t compete at Oregon. So competing here was a really big goal of mine. And I’m really happy I’m getting to do it this year.”
One thing Collins realized when he started cheerleading is that there are some similarities, to a certain degree, between cheerleading and serving in the military.
“I remember starting cheer and I felt more nervous cheering in front of crowds than I did in the military,” Collins said. “Despite even doing a deployment to Afghanistan, I remember one time I literally looked at my cheer teammates and was like ‘man, I’m literally more nervous now than on the plane ride into the Middle East.’ Like I’m used to stress, but I think it’s just because I know in the military, your buddies depend on you. The guys who are serving next to you depend on you. And I think it’s obviously not life threatening here in cheer, but my teammates rely on me to be a good teammate and to keep them safe, obviously the girls when they’re flying. And also just to do the best I can for them. So that pressure to do good for others and that want to do good for others definitely carried over from the military to cheerleading."
When originally choosing a school to attend, Collins was set to go out west, away from his hometown of Hartland, Michigan. His finalists were Colorado, Oregon and Utah, but he went with the Ducks, where he spent four years.
His decision to transfer to Michigan State was primarily based on one major factor: being closer to his parents. The years spent serving his country and the years spent in Eugene, Oregon took its toll on Collins.
“Oregon’s really cool,” Collins said. “I love the University of Oregon. Go Ducks. But I decided to come back home last year. My parents, I’ve just been away from them for a long time, especially with my years of active duty service before that, I just was kind of sick of not being near them. So I decided to come back, finish up my degree here and spend time with them.”
Growing up in Michigan, Collins played various sports, mostly hockey. The teamwork, the comradery, the supportive environment are all things that Collins wanted to get out of his latest venture of cheerleading.
“The opportunity to cheer, I knew that that would carry on kind of that family, teamwork and friendships that came with that,” Collins said. “That was something I really wanted from cheer and I’m happy that I’ve gotten it from here, especially at Michigan State. I’ve made a lot of really great friendships here on the team and I love it. I love being here at MSU.”
With Nationals starting on Jan. 12, Collins is looking to accomplish a dream of his this weekend in Orlando.
“We really want to make sure that we hit everything to a degree that we’re happy with,” Collins said. “That just comes from not dropping stunts and stuff like that or not looking shaky when we’re in stunts. And that’s a big personal goal for me as well, just being solid, confident and doing the best that I can for my teammates because I don’t want to let them down and I don’t want to let myself down because this was a dream of mine and now that I’m actually getting a chance to do it, I just want to go out there and absolutely leave it all on the floor, or on the mat as they say here in cheer.”
Michigan State's Preparation for Nationals
The Spartan cheer team traveled down to Orlando on Thursday. They will perform in the Game Day competition on Friday followed by the traditional competition on Saturday. The team also will get to go to Walt Disney World on Sunday, but the less time spent at “The Most Magical Place on Earth” the better - if Michigan State makes the finals, the Spartans will compete on Sunday.
“We put a lot of time into it,” grad student Dominic Ferraro said. “Being able to just see it come to fruition. Whatever happens, it’s like a very proud feeling for everyone.”
This is Ferraro’s first year on the team and his first trip to Nationals. He earned his undergraduate degree at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, a private, Catholic university with approximately 4,600 students. Ferraro is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in business administration. He didn't cheer while at Gannon but decided to pick up right where he left off on the mat after his senior year of high school.
The amount of preparation a team makes largely goes unnoticed. The cheer team has been preparing for Orlando for months. The sacrifices that the Spartans made, whether it be spending time in the gym over fall break, long weekends and even winter break, are not easy to do.
“Well, you definitely have to come prepared and you definitely have to make a lot of sacrifices in your life,” junior Dan Loudon said. “Everybody here, we’re all used to going home for winter break. We only really got a few days to do that. We didn’t get to spend a lot of time with family or other friends or rest. Over winter break, we’ve had two-a-days over the entire month or so. So you just [have] to prepare a lot. Make sure you eat and sleep well. And it’s arguably the hardest part of the journey, is just making sure your body and your mind too is prepared.”
The members of the team wouldn’t make difficult sacrifices if there wasn’t a rewarding quality for showing up at practice on a dark, snowy, chilly Wednesday night. For second-year Spartan cheerleader Becca Roach that rewarding quality is the unforgettable experiences and the chance to build relationships with her teammates.
“I think the most rewarding part is just meeting all of these people and being able to do things that your average person at Michigan State wouldn’t be able to do,” Roach said. “Like cheer on the court at a basketball game or cheer on the sideline of a football game. Just being able to experience all of it and traveling is just the most rewarding thing to be on the team.”
Just like the other athletic teams at Michigan State, the cheerleaders carry around pride as they will represent the Green and White on a national stage this weekend in Orlando.
“It’s definitely a sacrifice but it’s kind of like the reason we all think about what our why is,” freshman Sofia Gasperoni said. “Our why, like to perform and to see the logo, Michigan State represented on our chest. [It’s] very grounding to be performing and doing things that we love. And even though we might not see our family as much, it means a lot to us.”
That logo isn’t just a Spartan helmet. It means something to Gasperoni - despite this only being her first year on the team - and the rest of the cheer team.
“Definitely family and a lot of pride,” Gasperoni said about what the logo means to her. “[There are] a lot of alumni and current people at State, everyone's just a big family and we all support each other.”
