As I sit on the bus on my way to the Big South Basketball Tournament with my college spirit teams, I cannot help but reflect on the last three years with the Bucs.
In 2022, I started coaching BUCS Cheer with only 13 athletes. The program was only focused on Game Day and Daytona was only a dream. We had a small budget and had to share our practice space with basketball, volleyball, and ROTC. We spent the next season working every practice to improve our skills, sometimes losing our practice space, and fundraising $40,000 to make that Daytona dream a reality. In 2023, we took our first team to Daytona to compete at the National Level. It was not easy, but we did not give up, and then we did the same thing again in 2024.
Fast forward three years later to 2025, our program does not look the same as it did when we started. We have great support from our Athletic Department. We have over 40 scholarship athletes that do Game Day and Competition. We have two teams preparing to compete in Daytona on April 10-11. My athletes have access to the Top Cheer Talent Gym to help them train with a more consistent practice schedule. They have a space they know was created for them. They have access to a spring floor to help them with their tumbling confidence. They have access to wifi and coffee if they need to do school work. They can walk to Target and do grocery shopping before practice, or they can even grab a quick Starbucks after.
And they have new uniforms. To me, these uniforms are more than just something for them to wear on game day. It represents the harvest of the seeds that were planted three years ago. It represents the blood, sweat, and tears that my athletes and I put into the program to get where we are now. This is something they can wear with pride for their team and their school. We have one more month until our 3rd Daytona appearance in two new divisions, Intermediate D1 All Girl + Intermediate D1 Large Coed.
I look back at this journey, and I am filled with so much gratitude. Never would I have imagined that my love for cheer would have flourished to what it is now and what it has helped create. I look forward to the cheers to come! Go BUCS and Go YOU!
Until next time…
Cheers,
Coach Duncan
