Souderton grad is an Eagles cheerleader

By Jennifer Lawson
TheReporterOnline.com
September 9, 2013

When the Eagles play their first home game Sept. 15, a 2012 Souderton Area High School graduate will be on the field cheering the players to a hopeful victory.

Malia Makaila, 19, a Harleysville native and dance major at the University of the Arts, is one of eight new members of the Eagles’ 38-member cheerleading squad.

“Growing up I was always surrounded by Eagles fans,” Makaila said. “My parents have season tickets, and every year, they’d point out the cheerleaders and say, ‘That could be you one day’ and I’d just say, ‘Yeah, right.’”

At Souderton, she played soccer and was on the track and field team, but was never a cheerleader. She’s been dancing since she was about 8, though, which eventually convinced her that her skills matched what she saw on the field.

Her father Mike also gave Malia a push of encouragement. At the beginning of the year, he passed along some information about the open auditions as well as two pre-audition workshops, which she attended.

The audition process began March 23 with 400 women and, over the course of three rounds of competition, was reduced to 60 by the end of April. The audition finale took place April 22 at the Kimmel Center, hosted by 94 WIP’s Spike Eskin. The women were judged on their dance abilities, fitness, poise and their answers to interview questions.

“They asked me who my inspiration was and I said George Balanchine — he invented his own style of ballet and choreographed famous ballets,” Makaila said. “I was really nervous for that part. I smiled and paused and I really had to think about that question. You think it would come really easily to you.”

Although Mike Makaila was proud of his daughter’s performance, he didn’t want her to get her hopes up too high, noting that the competition was fierce.

“As a parent, you want to guard against disappointment,” he said. “All of those girls on stage that night were very good and very deserving, but they could only take 38. Leaving there that night, we thought she gave it her best. Although she was confident, I told her that if she doesn’t make it this year, she could try next year. She said, ‘I want to make it this year. This is my opportunity.’”

The next morning, Malia found out via email that she had made the squad.

“Oh my gosh, I was so excited,” she said. “I was shocked. I woke up my roommates and said, ‘I’m an Eagles cheerleader!’ I called my mom and she started freaking out and telling all her co-workers. I called my dad and he was at work so he couldn’t show too much extreme emotion, but he was really happy.”

Most of the other Eagles cheerleaders have experience cheering, whether from high school or college, or for other sports teams, but Malia’s dance skills propelled her forward.

“What really helped her was taking jazz, tap, ballet, hip hop and performing,” Mike Makaila said. “Without her dance experience she would have been a fish out of water. She was able to rely on her dance background to succeed in making the squad.”

Since then, she’s been attending rehearsals to get ready for the upcoming season and also making public appearances in uniform.

Malia has already gotten a taste for what the season will be like after cheering at two preseason games.

The cheerleading team is divided into five squads of about seven women, she said. On a rotating basis, four of the squads perform on the field while the fifth squad visits the suites and chats with season ticket holders and VIPs. Of the two preseason games, she performed for a full game in one and visited the suites during the other.

“It was nervewracking,” Malia said of cheering on the field for the first time. “I’m used to being on a stage. There are bright lights and you can’t really see anybody. But when you’re standing in front of 50,000 fans, I felt like I could see every one of them. I was definitely nervous, but it was so much fun.”

The season opener will be extra special because the cheerleaders will be debuting their new Vera Wang-designed uniforms, 10 years after the famed designer crafted the squad’s current uniform.

“What they look like is a surprise,” she said. “We’re very excited to show them off at the first game.”

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