Friday night under the lights wouldn’t be complete without the sideline cheerleaders. If you have ever been to a high school football or basketball game, you have seen the cheerleaders on the sidelines.
Cheering is a sport that doesn’t get a lot of recognition, even though a lot of hard work and preparation occurs to keep things running smoothly.
Cheerleader Kylie Barnes says “I love that cheer is something that brings me closer to friends, it gets me out on Friday nights and it’s something I can pour out all my effort and passion into!”
There are two types of sideline cheer that we have at Stevens. Football sideline and basketball sideline. Head coach Lynda Brown leads the football season starting in May and going through October, while basketball starts in late November and ends in the middle of March.
Though similar, they have many significant differences. The tryout process for football cheer is a three-day long period, the first two days are where you learn a dance and cheer. The last day is when you show what you learned in front of four judges. The judges will give you a score based on multiple factors. Within a week you will get a text saying if you made the team.
The process for basketball is only one day where you learn the dance and tryout in front of the head coach Jamie Exner and the assistant coach.
If you are an early bird, football cheer may be for you. Considering the practices are held at 6am every Wednesday and Thursday. If you are more of a night owl you might enjoy the 4pm basketball cheer practices.
Routines during games are also different because football sideline focuses more on dances while basketball cheer stunts more. “I think it’s a good opportunity to learn stunt sequences and also I feel like you get more into spiriting and it’s definitely a chance to get more involved with the crowd.” Says second year cheerleader Kaelynn Barnes. These differences are mostly due to having different coaches. Freshman Betsy Vazquez says, “I love cheer because I get to make new friends, and it is fun supporting our teams, plus you get to go all the games and not miss out.”
Cheerleading isn’t for everyone, from an outside perspective cheerleading looks like it is all glitz and glamor, but it takes dedication and hard work. Cheering also gives a chance to make new friendships and gets students more involved in school activities. It is a healthy outlet to express emotions and participate in physical activity, with a team supporting you.