DUKE CENTER – If you ask Otto-Eldred junior Josh Robert which is
harder – football or cheerleading? – you might be surprised by his
answer.

Roberts, of Duke Center, started cheering this year mainly
because he wanted a varsity letter for being the Otto-Eldred
Jr.-Sr. High School mascot, coach Penny Trask told The Era.

Trask told Roberts, who had been the Otto-Eldred Terrors’ mascot
his sophomore year, that if he came to each practice and put in the
same effort as the rest of the cheerleading squad, he could earn a
letter.

“I told him that if he was going to do that, he might as well
cheer,” Trask said.

And so, the 16-year-old became the first male varsity
cheerleader in the history of the Otto-Eldred School District, as
far as Trask knows.

Trask admitted she was interested in being able to use Roberts’
strength for the squad’s stunts – something that has worked out
just as she planned. In fact, Roberts will compete along with the
rest of the squad during the upcoming Christmas Tournament.

But Roberts’ activities didn’t always include cheerleading – he
played football for the Terrors when he was a freshman.

“I use that as a comparison,” he said, adding being a
cheerleader, he is much harder. Not only is his strength a factor,
but his memory and stamina are now put to the test.

And that’s just what he tells people who say cheerleading is not
a sport, he said.

“At first it was really hard work,” Roberts said, “memorizing
the movements and holding my position. But now it’s easy.”

Trask said that Roberts has been working hard to apply himself,
and performs well.

“He picked it up really fast,” she said, going on to say that
she would like to see him be less timid on the floor and approach
his performance with the same intensity as the rest of the
squad.

“I’d really like him to take it to the next level,” Trask said.
“He could do this in college if he really put his mind to it and
got serious.” She added Roberts currently does all the same cheers
and training as the rest of the squad.

He said that he will have to wear a uniform to compete, but it
is being ordered and hasn’t arrived yet. Other than the fact that
it will be blue and gold, he is not even sure what it will look
like. For now, he wears a wind breaker-type track suit in the
school’s colors.

Roberts said not only is he “definitely” going to cheer again
next year as a senior, but has given some thought to his coach’s
advice and cheering in college is also a possibility.

The routine he enjoys the most so far, Roberts said, is the
group’s homecoming cheer, which they will use during the upcoming
tournament.

Roberts said cheerleading is his only extra-curricular activity,
and that so far, it has not affected his grades either way.

Trask clarified that cheerleaders at Otto-Eldred do have to
maintain academic eligibility.

Naturally, one has to wonder if this extraordinary activity –
the crossing of gender-related boundaries – has caused Roberts any
hardships. He said, however, that he doesn’t get much flack from
the other guys at school.

If anything, his being a cheerleader has brought out the
tolerance in his peers.

One of Roberts’ fellow cheerleaders dates the captain of the
football team, Trask explained, and needed to deliver a message to
him during a game. Trask told her to send Roberts since he could
enter the boys’ locker room, and when he came back, she said, they
could tell something was wrong.

Although Roberts never said who bothered him or what was said,
his friends on the squad stood up for him and told the football
captain what happened. The captain, Trask said, told Roberts he
would “take care of it.”

Since then, it’s been smooth sailing.

“They all love him,” Trask said of the female cheerleaders.

When the cheerleaders get together outside of school to just
hang out, Roberts is invited to come along, he said.

Trask went on to say not only is Roberts accepted by his fellow
cheerleaders, but is also accepted by his classmates, other squads,
high school sports fans and parents, as well.

“I was worried that parents might be concerned,” Trask said
about Roberts’ physical contact with the girls on the squad, or
about transportation issues going to away games or competitions. So
far, so good, though, she said.

When asked if becoming a cheerleader has changed his circle of
friends, Roberts smiled and replied,

“No, not really. I just have a bigger group of friends now.”