Citrus College Cheer squad members want their club to be an official sport.

The entirely volunteer team dresses sharply for football and basketball games, but they do so on their own dime.

Team members estimate each person pays $1,000 to $2,000 for uniforms and about $1,700 a year in transportation.

Captain Naomi Gonzalez said the $200 per person average for insurance prevents the team from entering competitions and performing jump and tumble stunts.

She said the team captains visited the former dean Jodi Wise, who Gonzalez said told the captains, “We can’t become a sport.”

“She kind of shut us down,” Gonzalez said. “We just feel really small.”

Coach Tiffany Sutton said the team used to be a sport at the college. She said cheer lost its status due to an insurance liability.

A sophomore business and communications major, Sutton was a junior all-America cheerleader and instructs other high school cheer teams. She said organizing and training a cheer team is more than a volunteer can handle.

“From the first day someone has to know how to deal with the energy and drama involved with coaching cheer,” Sutton said.

Cheer co-captain Fatima Sanchez has been cheering since age 4. She credits the sport with building her confidence.

“I didn’t have any friends till I joined the cheer team,” Sanchez said. “It helped me with public speaking. Being in cheer, you have to perform in hundreds of people.”

The team practices four days per week and regularly attends the away games of Citrus football and basketball.

Assistant Athletic Director Andrew Wheeler said for the club team to become a sport, it has be approved by the California Community College Athletic Association, which requires a majority vote of college athletic directors.

Wheeler said he spoke with previous cheer captains and explained the state accreditation process.

“I told her the same thing,” Wheeler said. “To be an official sport, that’s how our campus currently operates.”

Wheeler also noted each sport was partly responsible for its own fundraising.

Gonzalez said other community colleges recognize cheer as a sport.

“We wouldn’t have to go to ICC meetings.” Gonzalez said. “We’d have uniforms, we’d have transportation. We work really hard to be a sport.”

Mount San Antonio athletics department administrative specialist Suzy Basmadjian said her college’s pep team is treated the same as other sports, but the team is not state-accredited. She said the Mt. SAC pep team does receive some funding but also fundraises.

“We do provide for them but it’s limited,” Basmadjian said. “They are entitled to the same privileges other athletes are on campus.”