Walking into the George Mason gym during cheer practice, it might look a little chaotic with cheers being called, stunts going up, poms flying, and people jumping into the air. This, however, is all a typical practice for the dedicated and hardworking students on the varsity and junior varsity (JV) cheerleading squads who meet everyday after school.
This 2014-2015 season has been one of rebuilding and bringing new things to the team. Cheer, like all of the sports here at Mason, has lost many students as they graduate and move on to college.
The varsity team affected by this loss of senior cheerleaders have been ??fast-tracking many of our less experienced girls to fill the positions we lost in our nine graduates,?? according to varsity Coach Beth Bird.
The JV team has also been affected in the loss of graduates.
??We have nine cheerleaders this year,” said JV coach Kasi Wautlet. “We??re a little bit smaller than last year. We??ve been getting a little bit more creative with our stunt groups and it??s been really great because they don??t always stunt with the same group. They get to stunt with a whole bunch of different people which gives us a larger range of stunts then we had last year.”
Filling in the spaces of those former cheerleaders who are not participating this season, are the many newcomers.
??I??ve never done [cheer] before and I came from a different school and they didn??t have cheer and so I was like I want to try it,?? said freshman Morgan O??Keefe.
The addition of these students has allowed the teams to go back and perfect the basics, so they can build up on them in order to create even bigger and better stunts, dances, and routines then before.
Yet another setback and the biggest change for varsity is the absence of a competition team this year. A request for the team was put out and not met, and so they will not be competing.
??Now we are working on teaching the skills that we felt were lacking so we can hopefully compete next season.?? said Coach Bird, turning the situation around and making it positive.
While the students have lost many aspects of their squads, there are also many exciting additions to the program. This year, both the JV and varsity have set up a weight lifting schedule. They do this twice a week with Coach Fowler.
??Lifting helps prevent injuries and helps to create muscle endurance,?? said Coach Fowler.
The weight lifting will help them improve on their jumps, motions, stunting, and much more. And their hard work in the weight room is something to be proud of.
??Cheerleaders have embraced lifting weights and have proven themselves as a hard working program?? Coach Fowler said.
Another new thing that has caused a lot of excitement for the JV cheerleaders is that they are now able to travel to the away games along with the JV football team and bring their school spirit along with them.
Bird said?the squad has been very appreciative the new coach,?Noah Schaefer, and the tumbling work the girls will be doing with him.
He has been assisting the varsity with an incredible routine which they performed at the pep rally and has been coaching both JV and varsity on their tumbling.
Despite all the challenges and changes they have faced this season, the cheerleaders have created two incredible squads, JV and varsity, and are putting in extra effort and going to new measures to make the team the best it can be.
