The UTRGV Coed Cheer Team practices last Tuesday in the Fieldhouse on the Edinburg campus. Also shown is Spirit Program Coordinator Rudy Mata. ISABEL MORALES/THE RIDER PHOTOS
Following the much-anticipated expansion of the UTRGV Spirit Program, newly hired coaches Isela ‘Sel’ Gomez and Rudy Mata spoke about what the expansion means to them as cheer and dance coaches, respectively.
Filling a position that had not existed before, Gomez is the first full-time head coach for the UTRGV Spirit Program.
“There was no full-time head coach positions,” Gomez said. “There were only two part-time coach positions. One [position] was for dance, one was for cheer. They would only [attend], like, after school for a few hours because they had full-time jobs.”
Having a full-time coach is a positive change and makes a big difference, according to senior dance captain Georgina Guerra.
Guerra said in the four years she has been on the team, it has been mostly student-led due to previous coaches having a limited number of hours available to work with them.
“There’s no more excuses of saying that, ‘Oh, I’m just part time,’” Guerra said. “With full time, they’re here the whole time, 24/7. … Our previous coach was a great coach, but … when she wasn’t here, it was kind of just hard for us to, like, grow at a collegiate level.”
As head coach, Gomez overlooks the cheer and dance teams as well as the mascot.
Originally hired for an administrative role as program coordinator, due to his extensive cheer background, Mata has also joined in helping Gomez with overseeing the cheerleaders.
“Gomez has a very strong dance background,” Mata said. “So my cheerleading background, I’m able to kind of help oversee the cheerleaders and kind of help them grow. I’m here to help out, you know, filling the hole so to speak.”
Senior veteran cheer member Alexandra Hinojosa said Mata, who cheered in college, is a good addition to the team.
“We’ve been trying a lot of new stuff, like new ways of practicing,” Hinojosa said. “Our practices are built a little bit different now. [The coaches] are pretty good and I think they’re just going to get better as we go. It’s really nice having them both.”
The first plan of action for Gomez and Mata is to tackle the expansion and growth of the program, including the dance and cheer teams, but also taking the dance team to competitions, which has never been done at UTRGV.
“The cheerleaders have a very good reputation of being a competitive squad and the dancers have had the reputation of just being a school dance team,” Mata said. “So we’re trying to equal them out and make them both competitive.”
Guerra said she has been waiting to compete since her freshman year.
“It’s very rewarding how far this program has come,” she said. “I’m just glad that we have a support system where we are on the same page to what we want this program to become, [wanting] both cheer and dance to be competing nationally.”
The new coaches have almost doubled the number of members on the dance team, meeting their goal of having at least 20 dancers.
“As soon as I came on board, I waited for Rudy … and then we started planning for tryouts for the dance team,” Gomez said. “So, we went from 11 [dance] members to now 21 members.”
Tryouts for next year will likely be held in April, according to Mata. To be eligible for tryout, candidates must have attended at least one of the two open practices held. Candidates will be judged on jumps, cheer, fight song, tumbling and stunting.
