USC Aiken Female Athlete Interview

This week I had the opportunity to interview a female athlete at USC Aiken. 

Her name is Niiyonah Kitchings. She is a senior, Exercise and Sports Science major. Kitchings is on the Spirit Squad and has been cheering and dancing on the team for the past three years. Before being on the Spirit Squad she was also on USC Aiken’s cheerleading team before the dance and cheer teams were combined. 

“I have been cheering my whole life…I continued in college because I’ve always had a passion for cheering,” -Kitchings on continuing cheer throughout college

Kitchings has been doing this for as long as she can remember and it just stuck for her. Learning more and more cheer skills to improve her abilities. She even did competitive cheer in the past.

“I did competitive cheer and decided at that very moment that it was the best decision I could have ever made,” said Kitchings. 

Her most memorable memory from her college career was when she was nominated as MVP of the cheer team and only being a freshman at the time. 

I also asked Kitchings how she felt her overall experience was on the USC Aiken Cheer Team and Spirit Squad. 

“My experience was great overall even though I had made the change from being a cheerleader to more so a dancer. It was amazing getting to try new things and achieve things I didn’t know I could do,” said Kitchings.

She notes that if she were to play another sport it would have either been track and field, volleyball, or softball. In her past she played volleyball and softball being top server, pitcher, short stop and base. 

Although this was Kitchings last ride on the Spirit Squad she has definitely made an impact on the team and also being one of the first members of the Spirit Squad.