Last Sunday Iowa beat Purdue 75-66 in the Big 10 tourney title game to earn an automatic bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. The Hawkeyes lot their regular season finale at Illinois but won 4 games in 4 days to make the NCAA tourney as a top-5 seed for the 2nd year in a row…although it did not end well. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Iowa cheerleader Libby Brosius and dancer Cassidy Erner for a combo interview about dealing with COVID and the post-graduation plan.
What made you choose Iowa? Libby: My parents both attended the school and my mom was a cheerleader so it was always something that I wanted to do. Cassidy: I have always been interested in being on the Iowa dance team my whole life and was a huge fan.
How did you 1st get into cheerleading/dancing, and what is the best part? L: I have some family who cheered. I think the best part is simply that I have a lot of fun doing it. C: My mom put me in a dance class at age 6 and I never wanted to stop after that. I could never imagine giving up that passion so I stuck with it during college.
What do you think the role of a college cheerleader/dancer is today, and how has it changed over time? L: We are very much ambassadors of the university we attend. It was always like that but we get more recognition now and it is more competitive, such as when we compete at nationals. C: It is a really cool opportunity to root on all of our sports teams and compete against other universities
What are you majoring in, and why did you pick that subject? L: I am a recreational therapy major. I took a visit to the children’s hospital as a freshman and absolutely fell in love with the idea of helping kids. C: I am currently in nursing school. It is definitely a challenge but it is cool: I get to interact with patients and always knew that I wanted to go into the medical field.
What do you hope to do after graduating? L: I plan to attend the Child Life graduate program at Iowa for the next 2 years. C: I am a junior so not entirely sure yet but either become a registered nurse or attend grad school for nursing.
How frustrating has it been to be part of a spirit squad for a great basketball team during a pandemic? L: It was definitely frustrating when we were unable to do anything because I just wanted to be out there doing what I loved. It is great to have the opportunity again to get back out there but we still have ups and downs. C: It has been a little different for the dance team. We attended nationals but did not get to experience the gameday side of things.