Hoops HD

Conference tournaments are about basketball but also so much more: the fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The CAA Tournament is taking place this weekend in Washington, DC, and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD will be covering all of the action so you can look forward to a cascade of coverage in the days ahead. Jon Teitel keeps things going with Elon cheerleader Aidan Casey, who talked about being a captain and his prediction for the Phoenix.

You grew up in Georgia: what made you choose Elon? I had a childhood friend whose older sister went to Elon, which is how I 1st learned about the school. I had toured a lot of small schools but something about this campus/faculty just stood out to me.

You only started cheering last year: how did you get into it, and what is the best part so far? I started during the COVID quarantine era and remember watching the 2021 CAA tourney title game between Drexel and Elon. Some guy came up next to me and we began talking and he told me to come check out the cheer team because of the community/team environment. I went to a couple of practices and thought that it was really interesting. The best parts are seeing my improvement and getting to know the people on the team.

You are captain of the cheer team: what is the key to being a good leader? I do not have a lot of “cheer background” knowledge so I just want to be there for the team as someone who has their best interests at heart. My forte is people skills so I try to make interpersonal connections.

What do you think the role of a college cheer team is today, and how has it changed over time? I grew up as an Ohio State football fan and have been to at least 1 game almost every year. I never grasped what cheer teams did in the past so I cannot speak to the evolution of it, but from an administrative standpoint we have been told by people that they love seeing us at events. We try to get the crowd involved but there seems to be less crowd engagement than before.

You are majoring in Biology and minoring in Neuroscience: why did you choose those subjects? I have always found animals interesting: my mom was a zoo member when I was a kid so I went to the zoo all the time. I came in as a biology/psychology dual major but took a behavioral science class as a sophomore and really enjoyed the idea of linking the brain to biology.

You are planning to attend graduate school to study Zoology: what is the long-term career plan? I do not graduate until next year but the long-term plan is to become a professor. I had a fantastic professor last year who made me want to be someone like that.

2 of your hobbies are visiting national/state parks and watching movies: what is your favorite park, and what is your favorite movie? My favorite park is Acadia National Park…but Yosemite is a close 2nd. My favorite movie is The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise. I also liked Free Solo about Alex Honnold and his climb of El Capitan without any ropes/technology helping him.

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? Generally the co-ed team goes to the men’s tourney but this year we are bringing a couple of other members. We had a late game a few weeks ago on national TV and it definitely felt different: we seemed more upbeat and it was a lot more fun knowing that everyone was watching us and finally recognizing us for all of our hard work.

Does your squad have anything extra-special planned for this weekend? We have been working on a few pyramids that we have not done during a game all year. However, the league said that we are not allowed to be on the court during halftime, which is a change from last year.

Any predictions for your 1st game on Saturday afternoon? We split the season series with William & Mary last month. We have been an underdog all year but had a nice run in February so I think that we will surprise some people!