“When I’m up there, I think, ‘let them do what they do, and just play,’” said Ki’Zydreeck F., who juggles the roles of both cheerleader and band member at South Oak Cliff High School. “I get a little scared every time, but once I’m lifted, I know I can’t mess it up.”
Strapped with a nearly 20-pound drum, these thoughts run through the sophomore’s head as he’s hoisted several feet in the air by his cheer squad. Then, in a slow cadence, his teammates spin him in a circle while he plays.
Typically, Ki’Zydreeck is a base cheerleader and plays percussion for SOC, but when his cheer coach saw a unique stunt on social media that would combine band and cheer, she knew exactly who could bring this college-level cheer stunt to life.
“I’m with them every day so I know what their limitations are and I know when we need to push the envelope a bit,” SOC cheer coach, Getquiea Jones said. “It may take us a little longer to get a move down, but I never second-guess my team.”
Combining his roles as both a cheerleader and a band member, Ki’Zydreeck’s stunt has become his signature move since debuting it at his school’s homecoming game. When asked how the newfound fame feels, he said it feels really good to hear from his peers who enjoyed his performance.
“Sometimes, people I’ve never spoken to a day of my life before, they’ll come up to me and say I looked good,” he said. “I’m just a really outgoing person. I don’t really have bad days and I’m always smiling every time you see me.”
His love for band began early on, first singing in the choir at Clara Oliver Elementary School and eventually joining the band. He credits his continued involvement to his band director at Boude Storey Middle School.
For cheer, he got a taste of how fun it could be after Boude Storey’s vertical team night where the SOC cheerleaders performed and through encouragement from his friends.
“When I started looking up SOC in middle school, I just knew I wanted to be a Golden Bear,” he said. “I wanted to join cheer my freshman year, but I got a little scared so I missed tryouts, and this year I made it. The practices can be very hard, but at the end of the day, it shows how much work we put in and no matter how hard it is, we’re always going to get it.”
For now, Ki’Zydreeck’s schedule is packed with cheer, band practice, and schoolwork, but he aspires to attend an HBCU like Southern University and A&M College or Jackson State University to become a civil rights lawyer.
“I’m just trying to be who I am, get through school, do fun things, and have the support of the people that have my back,” he said. “I know if I keep going, I can be really successful. I see what others go through, fighting for their rights, and when I see people who can’t speak up for themselves, I think of me because before I couldn’t speak up for myself, but I realized sometimes you gotta speak to be heard.”
