As basketball season starts rolling in, that means a new cheer season. The cheerleaders have lots of things in mind for a great basketball season. They are already starting to prepare things since there are only three weeks until our first game. Basketball looks a bit different for our cheerleaders compared to football season. There is more work going into dances and cheers for basketball season, rather than sign-making that they did for football season. Although there are no pep rallies for basketball season, they still hope to do something to bring the school spirit.
Two basketball-only cheerleaders are so excited to get the season started. They have been working hard to learn the new cheers that the other cheerleaders learned during football season.
Junior Olivia Petrilla says, “I am so excited to get basketball season started. We started practices a few weeks ago and we have been practicing hard to make sure all of our dances look good. Since last year was a really fun time during basketball I am even more excited for this year. We have been teaching all the newer people all of the floor cheers and dances from last year. We have such a fun group and we are all close, so I think this year is going to be very successful.”
Three sophomores didn’t cheer junior varsity/varsity last year. This is a very different environment for them this year. Last year they didn’t do dances, there were only 5 of them compared to 10 of them. They also didn’t nearly have as big of an audience as they will at varsity games. They are going to get to experience getting a student section and getting to dress the themes with the student section.
Sophomore Adison Lenox says, “I have a really good feeling about basketball season. This is my first time being on varsity for basketball and I think it is going to be a really enjoyable time. It is a lot different than football season, we are going to get to be a lot closer up to the stands. Although, it has been a bit overwhelming having to learn all of the dances from past years. I am catching on to the dances quickly. I am also really excited to tumble because during football season you don’t have as much time to, but for basketball, you can tumble if there is a time out, during dances, floor cheers, and even in the starting five. Another experience that was really fun was getting to have a competitive cheer team come in and teach us a new dance, new cheers, and starting five. “
Last year’s cheer team did good things, but this year the cheerleaders have much more in plan and have been preparing a lot. With there being 9 graduating seniors last year, and many new girls moving in this season. They have been developing new ideas.
Junior Ava Foertch said, “This year we have been working hard to come up with new ideas. We have been starting to plan the themes for all the basketball games. We are planning to do some different things at half time. Such as the duck game where you sell rubber ducks and at half time you throw them out on the court and whichever one gets closest to the middle circle gets half the profit. We also are planning on doing a game where you can pay money to shoot at half-court and if you make it in you get some of the profit back. We are also keeping some of the same traditions as the neon dance, where we shut the lights off and have glow-in-the-dark stuff on. Along with our Christmas dance that we do, where we wear Christmas pajamas and bows.”
Overall, this basketball season has great things in plan by the cheerleaders. Hopefully, there is a lot of school spirit as well.
