The Sound of a Million Voices

Ever wonder what 150 girls sound like when they are TRYING to be loud? Well, I found out Friday night at Monroe High School, when, unknown to me at the time, it was youth cheerleader night.

I calmly set up my strobes in what I assumed was a quite corner of the gym and was beginning to fire test shots when a friendly Monroe alumni informed me that I was about to be inundated by cheerleaders. Okay, so the eight Monroe High School cheerleaders were going to come my way, big deal right, we share baseline space with cheerleaders all the time. I said thanks and continued to test my lights. Soon after, another person asked if I knew what was coming my way; I said, “cheerleaders right?” She said yes, and then filled me in on the details that it was not JUST the high school cheerleaders, but 150 youth cheerleaders. Holy cow, how many? 150. At that point it was really too late to move my light set up, so I hoped for the best as they entered the gym in small groups and soon filled up the entire bleacher section right next to my strobes. Now let’s review, I place my strobes on the floor, making sure that the stand is steady and nothing is really in danger of knocking it down. That said, when 150 cheerleaders start jumping up and down two feet away from a lightweight stand, it wobbles a bit, actually, it wobbles A LOT. Needless to say, I was a little concerned that the giant moving mass of cheerleaders would bring down my strobes and I would successfully electrocute the whole group of them (which isn’t really possible, but all sorts of things go through your head when your ears are ringing from repeated chants of “Go Bearcats!”). Don’t worry, nothing happened, no falling strobes, no kids in danger. But it was a great reminder to me to listen to people when they tell you what’s coming your way; you may be in the target zone of 150 yelling girls.