Cheerleaders bond over ‘Dart Game’

Do not be concerned if you see a cheerleader suddenly fall to the ground as if she has been hit by a dart in the neck. She’s falling in response to another cheerleader mimicking spitting a blow dart at her. They’re just playing a game.

The Dart Game is something the girls on the cheer team started playing a couple years ago and is it has become an inside joke that all the cheerleaders regard fondly.

The Dart Game is a game in which one person has an imaginary dart. If any one cheerleader makes eye contact with the cheerleader who has the dart, they can be “shot” with it, and has to lay down. The cheerleader who had the dart then loses it, and it can be “picked up” from the cheerleader laying down by someone else. The one who is shot has to lay down where she was shot and wait for the dart to be “removed” from her by another cheerleader, pretending to grab it out of her chest.

“I get anxious every time I make eye contact with someone on the cheer team because I am not sure whether they have the dart or not and whether or not I am going to get hit with it,” junior Cayla Zelanis said.

The game is played for fun and provides an opportunity for the girls to bond as a team.

“It's just fun to shoot someone at a really prime moment so they have to drop in front of everyone,” said senior Brianna Roseberry.

The cheer team began playing the game two years ago, picking it up after attending cheer camp during the summer.

“We saw the UCA camp staff having fun playing the dart game, and so when we got home, we adopted it and put our spin on it so that it would work for us,” said Roseberry.

Although the game has provided abundant entertainment amongst the cheerleaders, it has cause panic among parents in the stands during football games a number of times.

“Sometimes parents turn around during the game and when they turn back around someone is on the floor, so they get concerned,” Moriarty, “but usually one of our parents will explain what is going on.”

The team had to stop playing during football games because parents kept asking the girls if they were OK, said Zelanis.  

Despite the restrictions to the game, the girls still find it a great way to bond as a team not only at practice, but also during the school day.

“Due to our lack of a coach, we really need to stay together and work as a team,” Zelanis said. “Even though we have to be serious during practice, the dart game helps us take our mind off of all of the drama going on, relax and have fun with each other.”