Conference tournaments are about basketball but also so much more: the parents, fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The CAA Tournament is taking place this week in Washington, DC, and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is covering all the angles so you can look forward to an abundance of access in the days ahead. Jon Teitel continues our coverage from DC with an interview of Elon cheerleader Kaitlyn Leazer about cheering for a winner and her prediction for today’s game.
You are from Cramerton, NC: what made you choose Elon? I wanted to go to a small school in North Carolina that had a good education program. I did golf/track/swim/cheer in high school and wanted to continue doing a sport in college. I tried out for the cheer team…and made it!
You are majoring in elementary/special education: how did you choose those subjects? While I was doing sports in high school I also served as a volunteer coach for younger kids and loved doing that. I am now a North Carolina teaching fellow.
Last spring you won the All-Female Coach’s Award: what did it mean to you to receive such an honor? It meant the world to me: it was such a high honor for my coach to recognize me.
You are a senior: what is the post-graduation plan? I will stay in Alamance County and become a special-ed teacher. I actually submitted my application for the Masters program at Elon this morning while on the bus ride to the arena.
You have been cheering for most of your life: how did you 1st get into it? I started as a 5-year old cheering at Pop Warner games and fell in love with it.
The Phoenix have had losing records for the past 3 seasons but will finish this year with a winning record: how nice is it to finally get to cheer for a successful team?! It is awesome! The atmosphere at our games this year has been amazing. The fans have showed up in great numbers and it feels like 1 big family.
What has been the highlight of your season so far: beating Notre Dame on the road, Senior Night, other? Beating Notre Dame was great, as was keeping it close on the road in our season-opener at UNC (Elon led by 2 PTS with 7 minutes left). We also beat Towson a couple of weeks ago, and they are the #1 seed in the tourney this week.
How does your school decide who gets to go to DC, and what will it mean to you to see your group doing its thing in front of a national TV audience? Our coach selects people from 2 teams to form 1 combined team: it is usually comprised of upperclassmen. I have only cheered at the women’s tournament in the past so cheering at the men’s tournament this week will be a fun new experience.
Any predictions for your opening game vs. Drexel? Hopefully a win! It is an 8 vs. 9 game so it should be close. We did a send-off for the teams from the hotel this morning with the Drexel squad, which was nice.
