WACO, Texas (KXXV) — I recently covered my first Acrobatics & Tumbling meet. One aspect of the event that stood out to me was the Baylor athletes jumping around and dancing on the sidelines after every event.
"We call it lovingly the peanut gallery, and so some people are offended by the peanut gallery, but at any given time during the meet everyone is in the peanut gallery," head coach Felecia Mulkey said.
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"Coach always talks about how no matter what, the peanut gallery is just as important as the people that are on the map like that are on the mat, and at any given point in the meet, you're going to be either on the mat or in the peanut gallery," senior Jordan Gruendler said.
The peanut gallery has been a staple of the program and not only does it hype up the team but it also shows how close they are.
"The support that you have on the sideline is what fuels you to get through every single, maybe element that you may be challenged by or just something that you may not feel the most confident in or if you even feel the most confident in it — it's really nice to have someone supporting you on the other side," Gruendler said.
"I was really shy in my freshman year, but once I started to open up and just recognize that we all are here, we all want to have a good time, and whether you're on the mat or not, you're being what is best for Baylor and sometimes that's being the best teammate that you can be," senior Morgan Brown said.
"So sometimes that's, you know, lifting somebody up in a crowd surf and other times it's just going crazy on the sideline or striking a pose," Brown added.
Baylor continues their season with their home opener against LIU before heading on the road Feb. 22 to take on Oregon.
