Lots of high school and middle school girls have been looking forward to cheer tryouts. For several years the high school team has been very small. The cheerleaders from last season were thrilled to find out that more girls would be trying out for cheer this season. Tryouts began on Wednesday, May 15, 2013, and continued on through Saturday May 18, 2013. “On May 18, we will be judged on our chants, cheers and dance; they decide if we qualify to be on the competing team,” said second year cheerleader, Natori Cruz, grade 9. She went on to say she was returning to cheer because, “I thought it was fun. It’s nice to feel like you’re a part of something.” Coach Brawn has been coaching the team for four years and really enjoys it. Cheer has given an opportunity for several of the girls to form better friendships.

Day one of cheer tryouts: Wednesday May 15, 2013

I walked into the Gym lobby and was completely anxious to see what the experience would be like. I didn’t know what to expect. I was quickly greeted by Coach Brawn and was given a sheet to fill out about my qualifications and what I have to offer the squad. We began the actual tryouts with Coach Brawn telling us what to expect throughout the entire tryouts, and about summer league. We did warm ups and worked out for about 30 to 45 minutes. We learned new jumps and cheer motions.Then we practiced a chant and a dance that we’ll work on throughout the week.

Day two of cheer tryouts: Thursday May 16, 2013

This was the morning I woke up completely in pain and sore. I now give the cheerleaders props on how hard the work is. This day was very quiet; everybody was concentrating on working on getting warmed up  quickly so that we could get to the dance, cheer and chant. There was a huge improvement in the new members and the group dance improved tremendously.

Day three of cheer tryouts: Friday May 17,2013

I was in pain, but not nearly as much as I did the day before because I was already expecting pain and I stretched before hand. We did stunting which was very nerve racking and difficult for some of the new girls. You have to be very dependent on your base and back spot. In the end no one was dropped and we all left the last day of prep tryouts in one piece.

Day four tryouts: Saturday May 18,2013

Tryouts were from 10-12 am. Almost all the girls woke up an hour to an hour and a half before tryouts. The judges were commenting and critiquing the cheers, chants, dances, jumps and tumbling. We performed the group dance a total of four times, twice for practice and twice for the judging panel. Then all 11 girls went in with a partner to finish tryouts. At the end of tryouts, all the girls made the team and we were very excited and took a team picture. We finally ended the day with stunting. Lexi Freithoffer said, “ I’ve really enjoyed this cheer experience and I can’t imagine any of us not making the team.”