The roars can be heard from across town. It’s Friday night and the stands are packed which means there’s a football game going on. The student section is going wild. The cheerleaders tumble across the field throwing their hands up and shaking their pom-poms under the big bright stadium lights.

Where there is a football game there are cheerleader. Cheerleaders do many things on the field such as, stunts, flips, cheers, and dances. Freshman, Camryn Morgan, thinks cheerleading requires many skills both physically and mentally.

“Mentally you have to have the ability to talk to your teammates respectfully, you can’t just scream at each other and physically you need to build your body strength cause at some point you are holding someone in the air,” Morgan says. 

Being on the cheer team is not something that can be done alone, it requires an entire team effort. Multiple girls are doing multiple things all at once. Freshman, Madison Denson, believes that having a good bond is important with your teammates.

“When your on a team you need to trust you teammates you should learn your team mates figure out what they are comfortable with so when it’s time to perform it all falls into place,” said Denson. 

Freshman, Ryan Williams, also believes in the lessons about teamwork she learned from cheering. She also learned the importance of patience. 

“Being in cheer taught me how to work with my team to get things done. It also taught me how to adapt to different things cause not all of us work the same or move the same,” Williams explained. 

Cheerleaders make many sacrifices, including giving up most of their free time. It takes a lot of time to be a cheerleader from learning the cheers, to practicing the stunts, and getting the dances moves just right. Freshman, cheer captain, Kameryn Brown understands these sacrifices first hand.

“Being a cheerleader and captain I had to sacrifice most of my free time to cheer. I also don’t have a lot of time for my friends or my school work so I have to work really hard to get my work in on time,” Brown stated. 

Cheer can also be exciting for the coaches as well as they watch their teams grow and work together. Freshman and Junior Varsity cheer coach, Alyssa Nuttall, enjoys watching her cheerleaders work together.

“Many of the girls have been for together for a long time and I love being able to see them enjoy the sport together,” said Nuttall. 

Cheerleading is more than just pom-poms and yelling. It’s also about learning, teamwork, making sacrifices, and challenging yourself to grow physically and mentally stronger.