Volleyball Bench Cheers Badgers to Victory
November 04, 2005 | Volleyball
The players on the UW volleyball bench have developed their own unique way of staying involved in the match. In between taking statistics and being prepared to go into the game, the members of the UW cheer their teammates on to victory in their own unique way.
Junior Amy Bladow, the self-proclaimed `bench dictator,' leads a series of cheers to help the players on the bench maintain the same energy as their teammates on the court. The bench performance can sometimes be as entertaining as the play on the court. Bladow has a regular agenda that she makes sure is accomplished during each match. While encouraging teammates and offering advice remains the top priority, Bladow makes sure the rest of her teammates are having fun.
'I look at the position as a leadership role because I 'm one of the oldest players on the team,' Bladow said. 'I take it seriously and one of my goals with this position is to make sure a cheer is never repeated during a match.'
The team will need its bench cheering this weekend as No. 10 Wisconsin (17-4, 9-3 Big Ten) returns home for two key matches in the 2005 Big Ten Conference race. The Badgers face off against sixth-place Illinois (13-10, 4-8) on Friday at 7 p.m. The battle for Big Ten runnerup takes center stage on Saturday as the two second-place teams'Wisconsin and 15th-ranked Purdue (20-3, 9-3)'face off at 7 p.m. Both matches are in the UW Field House.
Both matches this weekend will be broadcast on a tape-delayed basis by FoxSports Net North. Friday's match will air on Saturday at 5 p.m. while Saturday's match airs Sunday at 1 p.m. Craig Coshun and Andrea Nilsen will provide the on-air commentary for both matches.
The complexity of Wisconsin's 'cheer hierarchy ' is evident when the incumbent has been declared more than one year in advance. Sophomore middle blocker Maya Carroll is enthusiastically looking forward to filling the void after Bladow's eligibility ends. 'What we do is every time a ball goes out, I yell then the rest of the team yells back to me. I yell `Out' and they say `Way Out.' Then I say `Touch' and they say `No Touch.' 'After a point, I'll say a whole bunch of other stuff then they answer back. Like I'll say, 'Who' What'' then they 'll answer 'Who-Rah!' or other things like that,' explained Bladow.
'Anytime someone is louder than Amy, she'll lunge over and project her voice over everyone else's in order to make her point, ' said Carroll. 'Amy is also the person in charge of the nicknames and sayings. If a nickname or saying is proposed, Amy has to like it. We can try but if Amy doesn't like it, it won't be used.' Bladow has approved a wide variety of sayings used by the team drawn from many different sources.
'We use all sorts of stuff from pop culture and things to make fun of each other,' Bladow said. 'We do a lot from funny movies like Anchor Man, there are even some from Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.'
These cheers are tailored by a unique feature which distinguishes each player. Each player on the team becomes identified by the cheer the rest of the team uses to celebrate success on the court.
Co-captain Aubrey Meierotto's cheer is 'Holla ' because Bladow says she is known to repeat the phrase. Setter Jackie Simpson is recognized by her nickname 'J-Unit.' Senior co-captain Sheila Shaw 's cheer was inspired by one of the most loyal fans of Wisconsin volleyball who attends each home match with a sign in support of the middle blocker.
'One cheer we have is because of Sheila's super fan, `Sheila is Shawsome.' so our cheer is `Sheeeee's Shawsome' along with an upward arm motion,' Bladow said.
One of the biggest targets for the team's ribbing is junior middle blocker Maria Carlini. After every kill or block from Carlini, the team yells `I 'm from Canada, eh!'
'We also sometimes yell `Ponts, I`m from Canada and I can 't say pants,' to make fun of Maria's Canadian accent,' Bladow said. 'We're really just making fun of her.'
Bladow recognizes other teams across college volleyball have unique cheers, but she believes the Badgers' complex system makes them stand out. 'Other teams do have little sayings but I don't think they do it like we do it, like after every play. I'm sure there are some schools that do similar stuff but it's not the same. I don't think they do it to the extent that we do it.'
