A lot of people don't think of cheerleaders as athletes, so this is an opportunity for the kids to find their niche with two of the best squads in the country.

Nutrition is becoming more and more important to all athletes as far as performance level, ... At this level, it's very serious. The type of food you put into your body can enhance your performance or dehance it. If you want to be the best athlete you can be, you want to be as lean as you can be. The leaner athlete is the better athlete.

The BCA Invitational is a tremendous opportunity for our student-athletes to take part in. Playing more of a national schedule this year allows our program to gain some exposure and visibility, which not only helps our current players, but paves the way for recruiting efforts down the road.

I was honored to have the opportunity to spend two solid days competing with these outstanding athletes. I was definitely the rookie, but know that I gained invaluable experience in the art of competing while pitted against such experienced competitors.

These kids are athletes. ... These kids want to win. They are not going to just lay down and let teams walk all over them and give up. We're going to play through seven.

It showed our kids they could go up against great athletes and compete -- and compete as a team. If we hadn't come out after the lightning delay and executed and won that game, where would we have gone?