The Winthrop Spirit Squad has been put on pause for the 2020-21 athletics year. A post made to the team’s Instagram account in July stated that the decision was made out of respect for the safety of students and due to “concerns related to gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Shea Maple, Interim Associate Athletic Director for External Operations, said that while safety concerns were one reason to not have Spirit Squad this year, finances also came into play.
“There have been some resources in the past that have gone to the Spirit Squad that we just weren’t in a position to provide this year amongst a lot of things happening [and] budgets being addressed,” Maple said. Those resources typically include money for new uniforms and most importantly a coach to train and lead the team.
Maple said the athletic department could not justify putting resources toward the Spirit Squad while not knowing how many fans would be allowed into the Coliseum for basketball games for them to engage with. He said this “unknown factor” was a big reason why the decision was made so far in advance.
“It was important to us to not leave our Spirit Squad and our students that make up that team hanging in the balance,” Maple said. “It was important to kind of address the situation with that group as early as we could.”
Maple said one other reason for this decision was to help limit the number of students training in the Coliseum that would need to be overseen to make sure they were exercising safely.
“Not saying that it couldn’t be done, but certainly with the activity that the Spirit Squad does, there is some risk involved,” he said.
Maple said the decision was made by the senior leadership team, which includes Athletic Director Ken Halpin, Deputy Athletic Director Hank Harrawood, Senior Associate Athletic Director Kelly Kish, and himself.
Photo courtesy of Winthrop Athletics
“Of course, we did consult Coach Bunzey as well to let her know kind of the direction we were headed and how we were affected on this,” Maple said.
Unlike the Spirit Squad, the Screamin’ Eagle Pep Band has not been given a ruling on its participation at basketball games this season. Maple said the pep band does not report to anyone in the athletic department, so the university would make the final call as to whether the pep band would play at games this season or not.
Maple noted that this decision is not a permanent elimination of the Spirit Squad and that the team hopes to hold tryouts again in 2021-22.
“I’ve been coming to basketball games as long as just about anybody – dating back to my time as a student – so I’ve always known what our Spirit Squad did for our gameday environment,” Maple said. “Hopefully we’re back to full speed in 21-22.
“It’s my hope that we can have the majority of the team back and then continue to get some talented students on the squad that can represent us really well, and I think we can do that,” he said.
The Spirit Squad was expected to have two seniors this year; Megan Smith (who had been on the team for two years) and Nicolette Outtrim (who had been on the team for three years).
Photo courtesy of Winthrop Athletics
