Feature Story

Contact: Petty Officer 3rd Class Erik Swanson

Phone: 510-289-5794 E-Mail: erik.j.swanson@uscg.mil

Select photos to download full resolution image from Coast Guard Visual Imagery site

 

Seven miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge, a team of seven Coast Guard law enforcement officers, equipped with flak jackets, personal flotation devices, helmets and pistols, step quietly aboard a Columbia-flagged cruise ship at 4 a.m. As some of the passengers are having their morning cup of coffee, the team moves swiftly through the passageways, inspecting the engine room, scanning common spaces and weather decks as part of their security check while the ship steams into the San Francisco Bay.

The ship nears the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, and Tony Bennett’s “I left my heart in San Francisco” echoes from the ship’s main speakers. The boarding is complete by 6 a.m.-“all secure.” After a long night, one of the team’s members is especially looking forward to getting some rest since he must report to cheerleading practice later that day.

The Coast Guard and competitive cheerleading have two things in common, Fireman Robert Arambula and the core value of teamwork.

Arambula began cheerleading in high school after losing interest in football, making him the first male cheerleader of Shorecrest High School, in Shoreline, Wash.

“I didn’t feel like the guys who played football wanted to work together and be a team, so I tried something new,” said Arambula.

After high school, he cheered for Bellevue Community College and later joined a local All-Star cheerleading squad, introducing him to the world of competitive cheerleading. Twenty-four people in a squad and two-and-half-minutes to “Bring it on.”

“The transition from academic cheer to competitive cheer was a shock to my system,” Arambula states. “I thought I was a good athlete when I joined the team, but I had to work very hard to compete!”

The 27-year-old, from Seattle, Wash., now cheerleads for two Bay Area teams, the NorCal All Stars, from San Jose, Calif., and Starstruck, from Modesto, Calif., practicing four days a week, three to seven hours each day. His performances include girls, called flyers, who are tossed nearly 20 feet in the air to perform stunts. These girls rely on Arambula and his teammates to catch them.

“My job is to make sure my flyers are ok,” said Arambula.

He also depends on the flyers to land their stunts and not stick him in the face with an elbow or knee.

“I have broken my nose three times, dislocated a finger, and I think I have had a concussion, but I don’t remember it,” laughed the 6 foot, 144-pound cheerleader.

His practice has paid off. In 2009, his Starstruck team combined forces with Cheer Odyssey All-stars from Stockton, Calif., and won a national title at the Golden State Spirit Association National Championship in San Jose and ranked well at the World Competition held in Florida.

“I think what he has demonstrated in competitive cheerleading is a tremendous accomplishment,” said Ensign Jeremy Runco, a Sector San Francisco boarding officer. “His skill level is very impressive.”

As a member of the Sector San Francisco boarding team, Arambula conducts law enforcement operations around the Bay Area. He is the most

junior member of the team, performing safety and security checks of commercial vessels in a variety of different scenarios ranging from routine to high security.  The job is demanding and sometimes stressful, operating as a maritime law enforcement presence.

“I take my job very seriously,” Arambula said sternly. “The job can be stressful, but my training and team members give me the confidence I need to complete our mission.”

Whether conducting a routine or high security boarding, team members never work alone to ensure accountability and safety for each other. The boarding team regularly conducts ‘tactical procedures,’ scenarios that build these teamwork skills, such as responding to a suspect with a gun.

Arambula, also a competitive wake boarder and dirt bike racer, has been diligent enough to fit cheerleading into his busy schedule, but it hasn’t been easy.

Working from Yerba Buena Island, San Francisco, and attending cheer practice in San Jose and Modesto can be a logistical nightmare when you consider all of the variables of Bay Area traffic.

“He balances both his profession and his sport very well as he puts significant effort into both,” expressed Runco. At the sector boarding team, he has been an outstanding performer through his quick qualification as a boarding team member, his constant offering of assistance in physical training, and his cheerful attitude that comes with his strong work ethic.”

At the Jamz National Cheerleading Competition held in Las Vegas Feb. 20 and 21, 2010, Arambula is in his element. He runs through the Orleans Casino to greet old friends and fellow competitors with a hug and a smile. It’s game time, and the arena is jam packed with teams from all over the U.S., ages five and up, sporting brightly colored cheer uniforms, and glitter and streamers in their hair. Arambula’s team, Starstruck, has two chances to win their bid to the World Championships held in Florida.

Over the two day competition, Starstruck’s performances were impressive- dramatic aerial stunts mixed with skillful gymnastics and dance moves for two-and a-half-minutes, synced to a mix tape, pounding pop and hip-hop music.

“I cheerlead because I love the feeling of performing on stage,” Arambula explained. “Months of hard teamwork, practicing long hours, all lead up to a two and a half minute performance. It’s exhilarating!”

 It was an accomplishment for the team, and the crowd went wild, but a penalty cost them points and the judges left them with a disappointing score.

“My team did our best, and are proud of that,” said Arambula. “We’ll practice hard for next year and bring a fresh routine that will compete with the best.”

Either way, Starstruck performed as a team. Those teamwork skills are the same used by boarding team members in the Coast Guard.

Arambula said if his cheerleading or boarding team doesn’t work together, someone could get hurt. His teammates trust him to have their backs-as he trusts them to have his.

Though considered an unusual sport to skeptics, cheerleading has taught Arambula the value of teamwork, the fundamental principle the Coast Guard is built on.