His breath is heavy and it takes every muscle in his body to stop him from wiping the sweat rolling into his eye. Every single move he makes must be precise; there can be no mistakes. With a single stretch of his arms he hoists a girl into the air, only holding her foot. With this final move, the team’s routine is over.

Junior Treston Green is a male cheerleader. He cheers competitively for Cheer Elite Allstars (CEA).

“I started cheering in 8th grade because my sister was really wanting me to do it,” Green said. “When I started I just loved it so much, and wanted to make something of it.”

A lot of the times in highschool, passions are given up because of peer pressure and academic conflicts. But in his situation, being a male cheerleader poses its own set of problems.

“I don’t really get bullied for it,” Green said. “Of course people are going to make jokes, but I knew that was a risk I was going to have to take when doing cheer.”

Despite name-calling and brow-beating, green refuses to acknowledge the negative comments. Instead, he focuses on doing what he loves, and keeps his head and heart in the competition.

“I love getting on the floor before performing my routine,” Green said.  “All of the loud music and loud people in the stadium is muted and all you can think about is sticking your whole routine. You can hear the announcer call your team and then you get on the floor. When the music starts, all thoughts are gone and it’s just muscle memory.”

The adversity faced is nothing compared to the extreme amount of benefit come from competitive cheering.

“My advice to any guys who want to cheer is just to do it,” Green said. “You’re going to get made fun of a little bit, but they can’t make fun of you when you’re in college for free and they’re stuck with tuition.”