A running back in the fall, senior Bobby Spencer back to lifting more than just weights as a member of the Chesterton cheerleading squad, which is headed for Disneyland to compete in nationals in Orlando in February

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The 2022 Homecoming Block Party was beginning to wind down and cheerleading coaches Tara Graf and Calla Dolph were still working the crowd, in search of strong-looking prospects when they approached four athletes who had come from freshman football practice.
Niko Monaco and Bobby Spencer were two of the football players invited to a Saturday morning cheerleading practice and they showed up.
“We had no intention of actually doing it. We just thought it might be a fun, one-time kind of a thing,” Spencer said. “Niko and I thought it would be like a funny little prank or whatever to go to it, and we came in and we loved it. It’s probably the best decision I’ve ever made.”
They immediately were hooked. Monaco still cheers and no longer plays football. Spencer returned to football this past fall after a two-year layoff, and took some snaps during the absence of injured running back Andrew Goveia.
“Originally it was four guys from football who were going to go and the other two didn’t show up,” Spencer said, looking back on his start. “So it was just Niko and me. And we had a blast. We clicked with a lot of the people there. The coaches were awesome and we just had a lot of fun and we both were like, ‘I think I’m going to go back to the next practice,’ and we kept coming.”
And he will be making a trip to Orlando to cheer with teammates at nationals for the fourth year in a row. Chesterton High School coed cheer program earned its fifth UCA Hoosier Regional Large Varsity Coed Game Day championship last weekend, earning a big to nationals in February. The Trojans accomplished the feat with the highest score they ever have achieved at a UCA regional
Spencer turned in his football uniform after the season and is a full-time cheerleader, hoping to continue doing it in college. He went to a clinic at Morehead State University in Kentucky, which his coaches have told him is “the top of cheer mountain.” The Morehead coaches saw enough potential in him to extend a tryout invitation in the spring and he plans to attend it. If he makes the team, his college search will end there. If he doesn’t make it, he’ll look into a college closer to home, he said, perhaps Purdue or Indiana.
Chesterton has eight boys on the cheerleading team, far bigger participation than at most schools. Three are seniors, so the coaches will be back at next fall’s Homecoming Block Party in search of additional strong-looking boys.
He’s an eager salesman for the program.
“I mean, I think there’s a certain stigma around guys being in cheer and it shouldn’t be there, so I would just tell guys to try out and see if they find out that it’s really awesome and that there shouldn’t be that stigma,” Spencer said. “I think people should try stuff out before making any judgment.”
Spencer said he enjoyed it so much that even after putting in a full day at football practice this past fall, he would participate at the end of cheer practices.
“I love what I do,” he said. “We definitely put in a lot of work and I don’t think a lot of people can do the things that we do. And all the girls on our team are very good at what they do.”
Spencer has come a long way in the weight room and now bench presses 315 pounds and squats about 430 pounds. He has advanced well beyond the routine cheer stunts and is trusted to execute more challenging ones, such as the Cupie, in which holds the standing flyer’s foot with one hand.
Spencer said that after he moves on to college, he hopes that the number of boys who give cheering a shot at Chesterton will increase. How would he sell it to boys on the fence?
“I’d say definitely try it, and I feel like I’d talk to them about my journey with it coming from playing football and having zero interest in it, and thinking it wasn’t fun and then showing them where I’m at now,” Spencer said. “I have so much fun.”
Spencer explained the camaraderie involved with cheerleading.
“We’re all really close and you just like being around people that you get along with and you’re close with, No. 1,” he said. “And No. 2, I mean, and I say this not in a cocky way kind of way, but I’ve progressed so much and I feel it’s something I’m really good at, and I feel that when you’re really good at something, it’s more enjoyable to be there.”
He said that he enjoys competitions more than he does cheering at games, but added that he enjoys that as well, “especially rivalry games, like the Valpo games.”
As for what he would rather do, cheer at a Valpo game or play football against the Vikings, Spencer didn’t hesitate with his answer: “Play, of course.”