Tweet: Illini cheerleaders prepare for their annual tryouts #Illini

As a senior at Bloomington High School, Bryce Hendren was ready to chase his dream of going to Illinois and becoming a member of its cheerleading team. He would constantly check the Illini Cheer websites for updates on tryouts and to make sure he didn’t miss any prerequisites to make the team.

“I was a little bit crazy,” said Hendren who is ow a freshman at Illinois.

Hendren, a member of his high school’s team cheerleading squad for four years, found out about the tryouts on the website. He registered for it with nerves setting in.

But, once he got to the tryouts, the nerves went away. Some of the men trying out had no previous cheerleading experience, so Hendren knew he had a better chance of making the team.

“To be one of those guys to have a little bit of experience definitely eased my nerves,” he said.

After a three-day tryout consisting of interviews, evaluations and individuals and team performances in front of a panel of former Illinois cheerleaders, he made the team.

Each year, current members of the team need to try out alongside prospective members. From April 15-17, Hendren will tryout for the team once again. He is excited to do so, but Liz Wurtman, a senior on the team, said he will have more pressure this year.

“You don’t want to not make it after being on the team and experiencing that wanting to earn that spot a second time,” said Wurtman, a fourth-year member of the team who is helping with this year’s tryouts. “It would kind of be upsetting to not get it that second year.”

This year will not only be different for Hendren, it will also be different for the prospective female cheerleaders.

The Illinois Cheerleading team is requiring all incoming female cheerleaders to submit a video of them performing different tumbling and stunting moves, along with the routine to the first half of Illinois Loyalty. Between 45-60 females and 6-12 males normally tryout for the team, and they are predominately from Illinois where several high schools recently began considering cheerleading a sport, increasing the participation rates.

Sophomore Courtney Tynan is the only current out-of-state Illini Cheerleader, and head coach Stephanie Record could not recall any international students trying out for the team in her 21-year tenure.

She expects the change in format for this year’s tryouts to draw more interest from candidates in general.

“I think a lot of times people are kind of intimated to come and actually tryout, and submitting the video might be less intimidating,” Record said over the phone.

Record said this will also give the judges — a panel of former Illinois cheerleaders and coaches and coaches from the Universal Coaching Association — more time to assess the prospective members of the team. An email invite will be sent by April 8 to the females who advanced to the second stage.

“I think it will make the tryouts run a lot smoother,” Hendren said. “We’ll definitely be getting people right away that are very good candidates.”

Interim Director of Sports Medicine Rand Ballard and Record will look at each candidate to make sure they can perform routines without risking injuries. They evaluate the candidates prior to the stage of more stunts and tumbling in teams and individually.

“We’re getting evaluated on every single thing,” Hendren said.

It was an exciting time for Hendren when he learned hours after the third stage that he made the team. He was fulfilling one his lifelong dreams to represent the school of his dreams. For Wurtman, it’s the end to a road of memorable experiences.

“I think it’s really special to number one, have that experience as an ambassador for the University, and number two, just as hobby for myself. It’s something I like to do,” Wurtman said. “It’s been something that’s defined and shaped me.”

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