UALR Cheerleader Young At Heart

1:29 AM, Mar 9, 2009   |    comments
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Here at the Sunbelt Conference in Hot Springs, players will tell you it means a lot to them to have fans cheer them on, but one of their biggest supporters is Terri Hatcher, a 41-year-old cheerleader.

She cheers, she tumbles and she's young at heart.

"I'm 41-years old," Terri Hatcher says.

Hatcher had to quit college nearly 20-years ago to raise a family and travel with her husband who's in the military.

"I have cheered all through junior high and high school and I've always wanted to be a UALR cheerleader I was going to try out one-year probably in 1989, it's been a while," she laughs.

So when she decided to go back to school she tried out for the squad and has been a UALR Trojan cheerleader for 4-years now.

She explains, "I have my good days and I have my Aleve days. I just work really hard and there's some that are much better cheerleaders than I am and there's some I can hang tough with so I just work real hard. I've been on the squad for a while and I need to be a good leader and set by example. I'm always trying to improve my skills so I can try and be an example to some people."

Hatcher has three kids 21, 17 and 14-years old and says her motherly instincts do come out when she's with the squad.

"They call me mama T so that's my nickname I make sure to bring extra bows if someone forgets, if somebody needs something they'll text me and I also get on to them a little bit too."

Hatcher says whether you had to give up something you love or you want to try something new, age is just a number and as long as you work hard at it don't let anyone tell you, you can't.

She adds, "I know as you get older you kind of reflect on things you have done and haven't done and I'm trying to take care of regrets. I've always wished I'd been a UALR cheerleader and this is probably the only regret that I have left to fulfill and don't ever let anyone tell you, you can't do something because if you want it bad enough and you work for it you can do anything."

Hatcher plans to graduate this spring with a 3.38 GPA with a double major in liberal arts and communications.