As the school year begins, the cheerleading team starts their season by cheering on the sidelines for the football teams.
To prepare for the fall season, the team put in the time and dedication to practice over the summer.
“We have summer cheer all through June and July to prepare for the fall season. We do a lot of strength and conditioning along with learning most of our sideline cheers. We even had multiple home camps and an overnight camp at Carthage College,” said head coach Jennifer Garza.
After a summer of work and conditioning, the team applies all the training into sideline cheering and future events.
“Our fall season is all about sideline cheering, supporting as many teams as we can, and continuing to build our strength and stamina,” Garza said. “Besides football games, we’re focusing on getting our Homecoming routine ready, as well as our competition routine for competition season,” said senior Christine Eaton.
The fall season gives the cheerleaders a short break before jumping into competition season during the winter.
“Football season is less stressful than competition season. We do simpler stunts and just have fun during Friday night games,” said senior Camryn Delforte.
“Competition season is where we get to actually show off our talent and hard work. This is also the time when we can push the envelope a little more and throw in the harder stunts, tumbling, jumps, etc.,” Garza said.
Leading into the rest of the year, the team uses their close relationship to an advantage in accomplishing their goals.
“This year, the team culture is much different. There’s a lot more positive attitudes and just the way we interact with one another is positive, making it easier to work well together as a team,” Delforte said.