You can catch the teams performing at home football and basketball games and special events around campus.

Lindsay Jones leads the spirit program and will also serve as Head Dance Coach. She brings over 30 years of training and 20 years of professional coaching experience.

Jones hopes to grow the programs into three cheer programs and three dance teams, as well as a mascot program. “I’m happy to finally get back to a normal season,” Jones said.

Before the two universities integrated, Jones was the Spirit Coordinator at Robert Morris University Illinois. Her favorite memory was earning a spot in the winner’s circle at the Universal Dance Association (UDA) nationals.

The open division of the UDA serves up some staunch competition — it includes all colleges and universities from NCAA Division II to two-year programs. And when Jones took over as head dance coach, the team only had eight dancers and her first child was 12 weeks old.

“I wanted to coach a hardworking, well-known team, but I had to start from zero,” she remembered. “Many nights, weekends, early mornings, I was coaching, recruiting and working with choreographers to get my goal.”

Two years later, the team placed ninth in Open Division Hip Hop at UDA college nationals. Another year later, they placed eighth.

“The caveat of all of this hard work is that the dancers and I created such a strong bond,” she said. “I’ve been to weddings, baby showers and graduations for most of these former dancers.”

After the upheaval of the pandemic, Jones is excited to forge the same lifelong bonds on the Roosevelt Lakers team. The cheer team will compete in Daytona, Florida at the NDA/NCA College National Championships in April.