Stand up and shout

By Allison Flores 

Yorktown News-View

Staying busy and breaking down plenty of barriers in his spare time is Yorktown High School junior, Harley Davis. 

The mascot-turned-cheerleader was focused on making his dreams come true all while balancing schoolwork, student council, cross country, UIL academics, One Act Play, and working as the manager for the girl’s volleyball, softball, and basketball teams. 

“Even when I was little, I would tell my parents ‘I’m going to be a male cheerleader’, that was my dream,” said Davis during an interview. “Even then, I thought it was a good dream to have, but I never expected it. A lot of people doubted me so that just made me push myself more.” 

He continued, “When I was mascot my freshman and sophomore years, I was just like ‘I think I have enough experience under my belt in this that I can do it’, so I just went for it and that’s how I’m here today.”

While male cheerleaders aren’t quite as common in smaller, rural towns, the percentage of males making varsity cheer teams has risen in the past few years, making the sport co-ed. The balance of strength and precision on the team works to benefit the stunts, jumps, and dance moves. 

“I want to say it was easy [to join the team],” said Davis, “I think everyone kind of expected me to move forward in what I wanted to pursue–even though we live in small-town Texas, everyone just knew that [I] was going to do better and push myself. It might have been hard because people don’t always approve of this kind of thing, but you just do what you got to do to make it.” 

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