It’s a Wednesday night in January, and the Brentwood Girls Basketball team has just beaten their rival, Maplewood, with a score of 49 to 26. 

Having played the game with just 6 players, now the girls are sweaty, exhausted and ready to either go home or relax in the bleachers as they watch the varsity boys’ team warm up for their game. But before they can do any of that, they must head to the locker room for a post-game meeting. As Coach Kobler and Coach Boorum debrief with the team about the good and bad of the game, the girls take off their basketball shoes and drink water. That is, everyone except one: freshman Khai Erby-Carr. 

While Coach Kobler talks, Erby-Carr is running between her locker, the sink and the stall as she pulls off her basketball uniform in exchange for a purple, yellow, and black cheer uniform. 

While still listening to coach, she silently yet speedily washes her face, gives herself a spray of perfume, and then as if she’s Clark Kent who has just turned into Superman or maybe vice versa, she runs out of the locker room and straight back to the basketball court for her next sport of the night: Cheer.

Although Erby-Carr has been playing basketball for five years and had never cheered before this year, her original plan was to only be a cheerleader. But then she found out that the girl’s basketball team might not have enough players. Before Erby-Carr could decide if it was even possible to join the basketball team along with being on the cheer team, she had to ask a school supervisor. Mrs. Robertson told her that as a freshman it may be a little challenging to balance both sports with school work, but that the school was okay with it as long as both sets of coaches were okay with it. 

After Erby Carr’s basketball and cheer coaches gave her the go-ahead, she jumped right in, and if you see her, you will see that she has not only been balancing the two sports well, but she is somehow making it look easy.

“She goes to basketball for the first half, then she comes to cheer,” explained senior Sariah Bailey, captain of the cheer team. Missing parts of practices hasn’t seemed like much of an issue though. “She’s a quick learner,” Bailey added. “Even though she’s very shy, she has a loud voice and her stomps are really loud.”

“After games she quickly changes and is in her cheer uniform cheering with the rest of her team before we walk out of the locker room,” added freshman and basketball teammate Mari Goodlow. “Sometimes it doesn’t even look like she just played a game.”

Although Erby-Carr is handling her hectic schedule with grace, of course, there are some challenges. Erby-Carr admits that there isn’t really free time for her to do much else.  “I don’t really have free time, I either have practices or a game,” she said. And how does she keep up in her classes? “In-between practices or games are good times to do school work,” she said.

On days when the girl’s and boys’ basketball teams played at the same time and in different locations, Erby-Carr would have to choose which to attend.”It’s just hard because our team is already small, and it would be good to just have the extras,” said Assistant Basketball Coach Boorum. Recognizing the girl’s basketball team’s need for players, Erby-Carr prioritizes being at basketball games on the days she has to choose, but she prefers it when she doesn’t have to miss either sport.

Although doing both sports has been draining, Erby Carr is glad she’s taken on the challenge. By trying out cheerleading for the first time, she learned that she really likes it – even more than basketball. But by still getting to play basketball, she has remembered that she also loves that sport. 

So next time you spot a cheerleader who maybe looks a little more tired than the rest as she cheers on the crowd, make sure to cheer her on, too!