Sparkly pom poms, white bows and daring stunts. This is the reality of the State High Cheerleaders. At every football game you can see these athletes cheering on our players, pumping up the crowd and performing complex stunts.

Both the head coach, Roxanne Williams, and junior varsity coach, Samantha Hyde, were State High cheerleaders and competed in UCA Nationals with the team. “It’s a sport where we cheer on other teams and pep them up, as well as compete on our own,” coach Hyde said.

Junior Varsity cheerleader, Anna Heintz, shared her favorite thing about cheerleading. “My favorite thing about being a cheerleader is supporting my teammates and the fun environment we all create,” Heinz said. There are a lot of girls on the cheerleading team and they have to work together like any team in order to pull off the different cheers and stunts properly. The cheerleaders aren’t just there to support the football team, they’re there to support each other and have fun. Some cheerleaders agree that the hardest part about cheerleading is the cohesiveness and how hard they have to practice to stay in unison.

“One of the hardest things about cheerleading is keeping girls up in the air,” Hayden Kingship, junior varsity, said. Cheerleaders get nervous and afraid. They have to face challenges each and every time they perform. The cheerleaders must always be brave because their stunts require a lot of trust in their fellow teammates.

The State High Cheerleaders really love what they do. Some of them have even been dreaming about being a cheerleader since they were little. For Kingship, it really was a dream come true, “When you’re a little girl, you always think that cheerleaders are the coolest, most popular girls. For me, it really became something that I love.” Now Kingship can say that she is exactly what she wanted to be. Cheerleading did that for her as it did for many other girls.

The cheerleaders here at State High are the heart of school spirit. They love what they do, and so they continue to do it game after game.