Forget the stereotypes. These guys say, “Come to the gym with me.”
Are they gay? Are they teenagers trying to get ahead early in life? Or both? Meet two teenage brothers who are not gay, play “masculine sports” and are respected by their peers for being cheerleaders.
Chris and T.J. are teenagers who are choosing to be different, mostly because of academics and fun.
Rock Solid Competition Cheer Center has a pair of brothers who are the cornerstones of its co-ed competition cheerleading squad and opposites of the stereotypical male cheerleader. These brothers, Chris and Terrance “T.J.” O’Connor, grew up playing basketball and football.
“[Once] I was able to get a basketball and actually fit it into my hand, I played it the rest of my life,” T.J. said of his second choice sport. “At first I thought I was gonna go to college for that, but then they kept telling me it was easier to go to college on a cheerleading scholarship.”
T.J. has only been cheering for two years but will attend Alabama State in the Fall on a full cheerleading scholarship. The scholarship will pay for everything from tuition and books to housing.
18-year-old T.J. and his 16-year-old brother, Chris, come from a family of male cheerleaders. Their oldest brother owns a cheer gym in Arkansas—a gym completely dedicated to developing and improving cheerleading skills. He introduced them to cheerleading.
Chris, who likes trying crazy stunts that could kill him, came to Rock Solid with his brother for tumbling. Chris hopes to follow in T.J.’s footsteps.
“College. Louisville. I’m working on it actually,” Chris said of his cheerleading goals.
Chris hopes to get a full-ride to Louisville for cheerleading and later become an FBI agent, something else that runs in his family. The cheerleaders’ dad is a police officer, and their aunt is an FBI agent. But there is another reason Chris is driven toward joining the FBI.
“I love action. Anything action I’ll get into,” he grinned.
Both brothers play football and basketball at Clearwater High School, but neither of them cheer at school.
“It’s too much,” said the younger O’Connor, which makes sense. They can’t cheer for the team and play on the team at the same time.
“[There’s] not enough stuff in it,” said the older O’Connor about cheering in high school. “It’s boring for me. There’s nothing to it.”
T.J. provokes those who try to rattle him or make fun of him for being a cheerleader by inviting them to a practice.
“Why don’t you come up to the gym with me?” he often challenges.
Although Chris said he has not faced any criticism from his friends about cheerleading, T.J. honestly admits that his friends thought he was gay for cheering.
“The ones that seen me changed their minds. They see what I can do. They go back to school and go, ‘Man, this guy can flip like eight feet in the air!’ They compare everything to high school cheerleading,” T.J. said.
Co-ed competition squads face fewer regulations than high school squads. Most of the stunts performed by Chris, T.J. and their teammates are illegal in high school, and sometimes even college competitions.
All-star squads catapult their girls about 30 feet into the air. The girl perfectly executes multiple back flips or twists before she plummets back to the cradle of arms that once made up her human slingshot.
High school squads are not allowed to perform most of the stunts Rock Solid cheerleaders do. A high school cheerleader’s waist cannot go above her shoulders, unless her feet (or hands) are on the ground. For example, if a high school cheerleader is tossed into the air, she cannot flip because her head and shoulders would be below her waist if she flipped.
Each practice day, the Rock Solid co-ed squad stretches and warms up its tumbling. The squad, one-by-one and two-by-two, tumbles across the blue springboard mat like fall leaves blowing across the ground in a wind storm.
Chris and T.J. tumble across the mat side-by-side with full force. Boom-boom feet-over-head. Boom-boom feet-over-head. Boom-boom feet-over-head. Then, for a full second, a silence comes from the mat. The boys are a solid seven to eight feet above the mat. They tightly and gracefully twist their bodies through the air like torpedoes to complete their tumbling pass with a full-twisting layout. A synchronized landing leaves the mat with a quick blast of thunder.
These brothers live for flinging girls through the air with exact precision—so no one gets hurt; catching them—so no one gets hurt; and tumbling eight feet through the air knowing every movement their bodies make—so they don’t get hurt.
“I’ve done every sport there is. It is the hardest sport in the world,” T.J. said with a smile. “It takes more energy to get through a cheerleading routine that’s two minutes and 30 seconds than it is to get through a whole football game.”
Are they gay? Are they teenagers trying to get ahead early in life? Or both? Meet two teenage brothers who are not gay, play “masculine sports” and are respected by their peers for being cheerleaders.
Chris and T.J. are teenagers who are choosing to be different, mostly because of academics and fun.
Rock Solid Competition Cheer Center has a pair of brothers who are the cornerstones of its co-ed competition cheerleading squad and opposites of the stereotypical male cheerleader. These brothers, Chris and Terrance “T.J.” O’Connor, grew up playing basketball and football.
“[Once] I was able to get a basketball and actually fit it into my hand, I played it the rest of my life,” T.J. said of his second choice sport. “At first I thought I was gonna go to college for that, but then they kept telling me it was easier to go to college on a cheerleading scholarship.”
T.J. has only been cheering for two years but will attend Alabama State in the Fall on a full cheerleading scholarship. The scholarship will pay for everything from tuition and books to housing.
18-year-old T.J. and his 16-year-old brother, Chris, come from a family of male cheerleaders. Their oldest brother owns a cheer gym in Arkansas—a gym completely dedicated to developing and improving cheerleading skills. He introduced them to cheerleading.
Chris, who likes trying crazy stunts that could kill him, came to Rock Solid with his brother for tumbling. Chris hopes to follow in T.J.’s footsteps.
“College. Louisville. I’m working on it actually,” Chris said of his cheerleading goals.
Chris hopes to get a full-ride to Louisville for cheerleading and later become an FBI agent, something else that runs in his family. The cheerleaders’ dad is a police officer, and their aunt is an FBI agent. But there is another reason Chris is driven toward joining the FBI.
“I love action. Anything action I’ll get into,” he grinned.
Both brothers play football and basketball at Clearwater High School, but neither of them cheer at school.
“It’s too much,” said the younger O’Connor, which makes sense. They can’t cheer for the team and play on the team at the same time.
“[There’s] not enough stuff in it,” said the older O’Connor about cheering in high school. “It’s boring for me. There’s nothing to it.”
T.J. provokes those who try to rattle him or make fun of him for being a cheerleader by inviting them to a practice.
“Why don’t you come up to the gym with me?” he often challenges.
Although Chris said he has not faced any criticism from his friends about cheerleading, T.J. honestly admits that his friends thought he was gay for cheering.
“The ones that seen me changed their minds. They see what I can do. They go back to school and go, ‘Man, this guy can flip like eight feet in the air!’ They compare everything to high school cheerleading,” T.J. said.
Co-ed competition squads face fewer regulations than high school squads. Most of the stunts performed by Chris, T.J. and their teammates are illegal in high school, and sometimes even college competitions.
All-star squads catapult their girls about 30 feet into the air. The girl perfectly executes multiple back flips or twists before she plummets back to the cradle of arms that once made up her human slingshot.
High school squads are not allowed to perform most of the stunts Rock Solid cheerleaders do. A high school cheerleader’s waist cannot go above her shoulders, unless her feet (or hands) are on the ground. For example, if a high school cheerleader is tossed into the air, she cannot flip because her head and shoulders would be below her waist if she flipped.
Each practice day, the Rock Solid co-ed squad stretches and warms up its tumbling. The squad, one-by-one and two-by-two, tumbles across the blue springboard mat like fall leaves blowing across the ground in a wind storm.
Chris and T.J. tumble across the mat side-by-side with full force. Boom-boom feet-over-head. Boom-boom feet-over-head. Boom-boom feet-over-head. Then, for a full second, a silence comes from the mat. The boys are a solid seven to eight feet above the mat. They tightly and gracefully twist their bodies through the air like torpedoes to complete their tumbling pass with a full-twisting layout. A synchronized landing leaves the mat with a quick blast of thunder.
These brothers live for flinging girls through the air with exact precision—so no one gets hurt; catching them—so no one gets hurt; and tumbling eight feet through the air knowing every movement their bodies make—so they don’t get hurt.
“I’ve done every sport there is. It is the hardest sport in the world,” T.J. said with a smile. “It takes more energy to get through a cheerleading routine that’s two minutes and 30 seconds than it is to get through a whole football game.”
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