Amanda Poirier on the right. (Photo provided by Amanda Poirier).
As we proceed with our "Female Faces of Cortaca's Past: Her View from the Sidelines" series, we’ll next hear from Amanda Poirier, as she speaks about her time as a cheerleader and her life off the field.
If you’re just tuning into this series, its purpose is to have the spotlight on women who usually do their part of the biggest little game in the nation on the sidelines rather than being on the field. While we usually see the game from the football players’ point of view, we get to see how the game is viewed from the perspective of the cheerleading, kickline, and danceworks team members, along with other female perspectives.
Amanda’s journey began in 2005 when she first started at SUNY Cortland. Poirer knew she belonged at the college as soon as she arrived at the university.
“I fell in love with the campus and the community,” she said. “It wasn’t far from where I was from and I was excited to start!” Amanda attended SUNY Cortland for 4 years as a Psychology major and graduated in the Spring of 2009. Currently, Poirier is a School Counselor at the Auburn Enlarged School District.
While at Cortland, Amanda was part of the Cheerleading team throughout her college years. Her favorite memory from being on the team was cheering at the basketball games, and all the fun times she had with her teammates. She is still in contact with her teammates and thanks SUNY Cortland for her life long friends.
(Photo provided by Amanda Poirier).
Along with performing at many games throughout the semesters, she also had the chance to participate in Cortaca three times (2006, 2007, and 2008). While she enjoyed performing at all of them, one of them truly stood out among the rest.
“I remember during the 2008 Cortaca it started down pouring during the game,” Amanda mentioned. “It didn’t bother anyone as the crowd’s energy kept it alive as we just cheered. No one felt the cold or rain!”
Another notable moment Poirier recalled was when ESPN mentioned Cortaca on TV as the “biggest little game in the nation.”
“We were so excited that our small college was mentioned on a major sports channel! It was a huge moment for us!” said Amanda.
Poirier looks forward to reliving those memories again as she plans on attending the game at Metlife Stadium with her former teammates. While the Red Dragons and the Bombers have had riviary at both college stadiums, it will be on a much greater scale as they play in an NFL stadium.
“Honestly, I’m so jealous of the girls that are cheering at the game this year,” said Amanda. “It would have been an honor to do what they are going to be doing and I’m very proud of them and will be cheering them on during the game!”
To help the girls have a good experience at the game, Amanda gives advice from one Red Dragon to another. “If fans from the rival team start to shout mean things at you, don’t take it personally. It’s just a game!” commented Poirier. She also says to live in the moment because it goes by too fast.
Make sure to read up on our last two stories on the "Female Faces of Cortaca’s Past: Her view from the Sidelines" series:
Sunny Jones- "Female Faces of Cortaca’s Past: Her view from the Sidelines - Part 2 (Sunny Jones)"
Lauryn Grefe- "Female Faces of Cortaca’s Past: Her view from the Sidelines - Part 1 (Lauryn Grefe)"
