A View from the Sidelines: Cheerleading at Harvard-Yale, in Photos
During the 135th playing of The Game earlier this month, Harvard beat Yale 45–27. This year was a game of historic records: it was the first time The Game was played at Fenway Park, and it was the highest-scoring Harvard-Yale game ever with a total of 72 points.
For me, it held its own special meaning: it was the last game I would ever cheer at as a member of the Harvard Cheerleading team since I’m graduating at the end of this semester. To commemorate the moments and to share a slice of our views, I brought my camera with me throughout the day and captured The Game from our perspective.
Our day started before sunrise, but none of us were complaining. Harvard-Yale is lovingly referred to as “Cheer Christmas” among some of the teammates because it really is one of our team’s favorite days during the fall season of cheerleading.
My morning started with a classic H tattoo.
When I think back on the past four years, the most consistent aspects of college for me have probably been 1) My dining hall iced coffee each morning before class and 2) The H tattoo I so lovingly (read: aggressively) attach to my face before every cheer game and competition.
So, early in the morning of Harvard-Yale, my routine commenced one last time with that H tattoo. Thankfully, it’s impossible to put on upside down—because it was certainly too early for me to notice.
I joined a few teammates for a quick breakfast at 8am in Annenberg, a dining hall. We were in full uniform and ready to fuel ourselves for the day, knowing we had a grueling day ahead of us.
The Game’s location rotates each year: one year it’ll be away at Yale, and the next year it’ll be home at Harvard. It has only been played at Harvard Stadium during home games for the past century, but since this year it was played at the historic Fenway Park, the entire team met at call time and boarded the shuttle away from campus.
Around 10 am, we were able to take in our very first glimpses of Fenway Park — able to see just how the baseball field had been transformed for the football game. This was the moment it really sunk in for most of us: it’d be the only time we would ever cheer at (or even be at) a Harvard-Yale game at Fenway Park.
We headed inside Fenway Park for some last-minute preparations, wrapping wrists and reviewing cheers.
Afterward, we headed out to the field to warm up our stunts and tumbling, and to cheer on pre-game festivities on the field.
We start every game with our classic “We Are The Crimson” cheer. As Harvard-Yale began promptly at 12 pm and the seconds on the game clock started clicking, we sunk in to this classic cheer. It is a simple cheer, but it’s timeless. No game starts without it.
As we moved through the motions of the cheer, I couldn’t help but think: This is it. We’re here cheering at Fenway Park, and I’m cheering my last game.
By half time, the Crimson was up 21–14, and we were hopeful for a victory by the end of the game—but it was still too early to tell.
For me, there is really no better view of a game than from the sidelines. To be surrounded by your closest teammates and to be cheering on Harvard — there is really no feeling quite like it.
Cheerleading isn’t an easy sport. It isn’t only sparkling our poms on the sidelines of a game. While we cheer all home football and basketball games, we spend most of our practices each week preparing for our own cheer competitions—our own game days—including NCA College Nationals in the spring.
In that sense, there is much more behind this team than what the crowd sees during a football game. And that, too, is what I’m so thankful and proud to be a part of: the resilience, the determination, the indomitable spirit of my fellow student-athletes. Our commitment to our sport, the Crimson, and each other.
After scoring 17 points in the last quarter, Harvard closed in on a win, 45–27. The moment of victory was one I’ll never forget.
The Harvard Band played the fight song and alma mater in front of a rowdy crowd. I took a moment to soak in what the conclusion of this game means. And I took a moment to remind myself what this H tattoo on all of my teammates’ faces really stands for: Harvard, of course, and perhaps Home. But much more, even, than that: all the long practices; all the blood (literally), sweat, and tears; all the good times and all the less than good.
I had worn this H tattoo everywhere, from March Madness to Collegiate Nationals to game after game in Harvard Stadium and Lavietes Pavilion. The H represents a school I’m proud to be a part of, but it also represents the team I’m proud to be a part of and a collection of indelible memories.
After the The Game ended, we were able to reunite with a lot of the cheer alums — many of whom return to The Game year after year, and cheer for us, in addition to the game, from the stands. It’s a nice reminder that while Harvard Cheer only lasts four for years, the team never ends—and is one whose friendship, bonds and network lasts for many years to come.
The one loss of The Game was probably our flag, drenched in mud. But I suppose that loss was worth the win.
As the sun set on Fenway Park after the conclusion of The Game, I left realizing I had just cheered my last game for the Crimson. I left realizing that, after eight years of cheering the sidelines of games—from my high school in Overland Park, KS all the way to Cambridge, MA—I was sad something that had been such a huge part of my life had come to an end, but I couldn’t be more grateful.
I scrubbed off my H tattoo for one last time that night. Being my melodramatic self, I had to indulge in the fact that this was the last time I’d ever aggressively remove my last H tattoo. The last time I’d ever don the Harvard uniform.
But, thankfully, it wasn’t entirely over once the game ended. At the annual Harvard Football Banquet at the Harvard Club of Boston two days later on Monday, we gathered for a fancy celebratory dinner. And, in keeping with tradition, we sang the fight song one last time.
“Ten thousand men of Harvard want vict’ry today, for they know that o’er old Eli, Fair Harvard holds sway.”
The Game this year was the most memorable Harvard-Yale of my collegiate career, but as the chapter in my life closed, I left knowing that I’ll always be proud to have been a part of the tradition—even as merely one of the Ten Thousand Men (and women!) of Harvard.
Perhaps I’ll never really be able to scrub off that H tattoo. The memories are ones I’ll take with me as each of us move on to our next steps in life. But I sure can’t wait, though, to be back next year cheering from the stands — of course cheering on the game and the Crimson, but also cheering on my own team on sidelines.
And if we’re lucky, maybe I’ll snatch an extra H tattoo to wear.
Thank you, to both Harvard and Harvard Cheerleading, for all you have given me. I am so very, very grateful.
