As fall sports come to a close, our cheer team has lots to celebrate after an amazing 2024 fall season, bringing energy and spirit to all the games and activities they attended.
Having the longest fall sports season the cheer season begins toward the end of May and ends at the beginning of November. It is a rigorous season with a summer UCA Stunt Camp at Great Wolf Lodge in August, 2-hour practices 2 times a week, and attendance at every football game, ¨lots of hard work and effort is put into the season,¨ says senior Clara Kapelka. This season the team aimed to improve their sideline stunts which proved successful as they were able to execute full team libs which is a 1 footed stunt, something the team has never done before.
This season produced many memorable moments but one of the highlights for Senior Ellie Ogle was the Homecoming Assembly performance. The team started learning the routine that consisted of a dance and a pyramid at the very last minute but executed it flawlessly when the performance day came. ¨I´m very proud of us as a team for figuring it all out and making it awesome by homecoming,¨ said senior Ellie Ogle.
The season presented several challenges for the cheer squad this season. The largest of these was the coaching staff which was smaller than the years previous. The J.V. and Varsity teams had to share Coach Hannah Dollar making it hard to balance time, especially during a busy season. But regardless of this challenge, the teams worked hard to make it a great season and even had positive benefits. ¨Even though our coach wasn´t as focused on them as a JV coach would have been,¨ said senior Ellie Ogle, ¨they learned a lot more through the experience and physically working with us.¨ Other challenges included facing injuries on the team. Despite the setbacks of injuries the squad demonstrated great resilience and adjusted to accommodate any injured members. ¨We can’t do anything about them (injuries),¨ said senior Clara Kapelka, ¨We had to keep going with what we could and knew how to do.¨.
The team has set ambitious goals to continue building on their successful season this year which include improving stunting, becoming a stronger sideline team, as well as having a more positive attitude, and being more fun to watch. Even with these future goals in mind, the team has a great season to look back on. The cheer squad’s dedication and hard work have made it an amazing fall season both for members and those who got the pleasure of watching them.
