Miles College cheer team poses for a photo after winning the titles for Overall Grand Champions and College Coed Game Time Champions at the CCA Christian Cheer Nationals & Collegiate Championship at Fayetteville, North Carolina on March 7.Le’Andrea Anderson Tolbert
When the Miles College’s cheerleaders attended their first cheer competition in over 20 years, the Golden Bears didn’t just give it their all. They made history as national champions.
The historically Black college located in Fairfield, Alabama is now the first HBCU in the nation to become Overall Grand Champions and College Coed Game Time Champions at the CCA Christian Cheer Nationals & Collegiate Championship.
Kyshawn Grant, in his first year on the cheer squad, took home honors as Collegiate Tumble Champion and Collegiate Jump Champion. Miles College arrived at CCA wanting to leave a legacy, and cheer head coach Le’Andrea Anderson-Tolbert said the team did just that.
“This whole competition season, everything wasn’t really about us, but more or less about what we’re doing for our community and showcasing what smaller HBCUs can bring to the table with limited resources and limited funds – how we can still overcome those things, still be great and win,” Anderson-Tolbert said.
Miles, which was established in 1898 by the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, is the second HBCU cheer program to ever participate in CCA nationals. According to CCA officials, Concordia College was a regular competitor until the Selma-based HBCU closed in 2018.
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The Golden Bears went up against three schools in their division for the championship title.
Anderson-Tolbert expressed her pride in how her team tumbled and chanted their way through the competition, which took place at Fayetteville, North Carolina earlier this month. Resilience, dedication and local support paved the cheer team’s road to the championship. Originally, the national competition was an out-of-budget goal.
“But I was just like, ‘Nope, we’re gonna get it. We’re gonna handle it,’” Anderson-Tolbert said. “When I say faith, I was like, ‘OK, I’m gonna go ahead and reserve this room. Ok, I’m gonna go ahead and let [CCA] know we’re coming.’”
Anderson-Tolbert said she paid for the squad’s registration out of her own pocket because she wasn’t going to accept no for an answer. The team mirrored her feelings and hustled to raise the more than $10,000 needed for competition expenses. They also looked outside the college’s alumni base for funds. Community members, former educators, friends and family all became part of their network of donors.
“Sending a team to a competition is a whole different level of money,” Anderson-Tolbert said. “It’s above the basic budget that we’re given every year. So just trying to hone in on the budget, make sure that we have enough money on our end, as well as fundraising. Fundraising was key.”
Finding a place to work on their routines was another hurdle.
According to Anderson-Tolbert, cheer doesn’t get premier access to the college’s athletic spaces because it’s organized under student life and not sports. She collaborated with the athletics department find practice space, and looked for community partners for additional options.
There were times when the cheer squad had to go through routines without practicing any stunts or tumbling due to safety.
Grant didn’t know about his participation in the tumbling and jumping competition until a week before the competition. His morning and evenings were spent stretching and practicing at an off-campus facility that had a spring floor and tumbling pads.
Grant believes cheer should be recategorized at his college.
“I personally feel like we should be under athletics because we work just as hard as any other sport,” Grant said. “We do a lot of stuff. It’s just not pom poms and waves or stuff like that. It’s hard work. Dedication. Some people won’t survive the camp that we’ve been through.”
Grant said Anderson-Tolbert challenged the team’s skillset during practice. Every detail was critiqued. Routines were repeated until all flaws were fixed.
“She doesn’t let us go out looking any type of way,” Grant said. “You can tell when she’s speaking, there’s a drive. She wants us to be great. She might not say it all the time, but we get it as athletes.”
Anderson-Toblert knew they were going to be part of a small population of Black people who have ever competed at CCA. But she didn’t feel intimidated by how her team may be perceived in a predominantly white space.
“‘Just take up space even if you don’t think the space is for you,’ that’s one thing I said,” Anderson-Tolbert said. “As long as we know we deserve to be here – as long as the judges judge us on what we’re going to put on that floor – that’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter what the audience thinks.”
The Golden Bears’ persistence left the crowd in awe during the competition. Families of all races and backgrounds came up and complimented the Golden Bears after they showed off their cheer stunts, prop skills and crowd interactions during the College Coed Game Time division. Anderson-Tolbert made sure the team recognized the message they were leaving on the stage.
“I talked to the team and told them, ‘Regardless of anything, whatever the score turns out, y’all made an impact on a bunch of Black and brown little girls and boys who cheered,” Anderson-Tolbert said. “And honestly, there were some that weren’t Black and brown still felt the impact of our team.”
Grant said his teammates initially felt uneasy about their performance from a technique perspective. Their slipups were minor – almost undetectable. But small mistakes make a big difference in a sport where a tenth of a point could separate who wins first and second place.
Grant’s victories in jumping and tumbling relieved some of the team’s discomfort. Grant proved something to himself in that moment: He had all the skillsets needed to be a champion.
“You don’t have to do the craziest thing to win,” Grant said. “It’s just based on how clean you do it and how you execute it. You just put your best foot forward out there.”
The team erupted in emotion and adrenaline when Miles College was named grand champions.
“It just made me feel so proud about how hard we work to get to where we are,” Grant said. “Coach was on us really bad, trying to find a space to practice and just all the trials and tribulations that we’ve been through just to get to nationals – it was just a lot.”
Anderson-Tolbert is already planning bigger things for the team.
She’s already accepting donations to send the Golden Bears to their first national cheer camp. She also encourages the public to celebrate Miles College’s accomplishments and find time to encourage the students whenever they can.
“One thing I saw at the competition in general, when people were speaking life into them, it feels good to have people tell you that you’re doing a good job,” she said. “Miles is a small school. Sometimes the students might not hear that on a regular basis. So continuing to support the students by just telling them they’re doing well, talking about their growth and giving them opportunities.”
