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Forming a fist with her hand, Kate Ortego ’27 leads the aspiring cheerleaders through the fight song. The cheerleaders encouraged the participants to do their best and smile.
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Performing a high-kick, Isabella Cunningham ’27 guides the middle school cheerleaders through the fight song. The cheerleaders led by example by smiling and being kind to your teammates no matter what may occur.
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Watching as the middle schoolers do a second run of the cheer routine they would perform in front of their parents, Claire Jesser ’28, Mia Zell ’28, and Lauren Patterson ’26 called out the cheers. With the goal of positively influencing the participants, the cheerleaders put their faith in them and guided them every stunt of the way.
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Seniors Delaney Johnson, Maylee Jemibweon, and Mia Zell observe closely the movements of the Cheer Clinic participants. As music played in the background, the cheerleaders would give advice after every attempt of their cheer routine.
Designed to introduce middle school cheerleaders to what it’s like to be a high school cheerleader, the cheerleaders put on their best smiles and neatest ponytails to teach the aspiring cheerleaders stunts, basic cheers, and safety techniques to prepare them for high school cheer. On Saturday, Jan. 31 cheer held its annual Middle School Cheer Clinic in the Dance Studio from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
As participants of the Cheer Clinic were practicing beginner stunts and cheers, safety was a priority that the cheerleaders wanted to emphasize during cheer exercises. With this in mind, the cheerleaders demonstrated stunts slowly in front of the middle school cheerleaders and guided them on how to properly and safely perform stunts on their own.
“I believe that your flyer matters more than you because she’s trusting you a lot not to drop her and you don’t want to lose that trust especially when you’re stunting because someone can get seriously hurt,” JV Game Day Leader Jadalynn Roe ‘28 said. “When you get to high school cheer, it’s so much different than middle school cheer so today I wanted to help them out with basic cheers and stunts that we do to make that transition easier.”
While the varsity cheerleaders prepared the eighth graders for tryouts, the JV cheerleaders taught the sixth and seventh graders. With cheerful smiles and bright attitudes, the cheerleaders were determined to be the leaders they were taught to be and become mentors for the young cheerleaders to look up to.
“We were teaching the eighth graders and all of them are going to try out [for cheer] in a couple months and I hope they can take away what they learn today as practice so they do well in tryouts without much stress,” Amelia Williams ‘27 “It’s nice to see them here where we can help them practice because I didn’t have that opportunity when I was in middle school, so I want to help them the best I can.”
By the end of the Cheer Clinic, the middle schoolers were scheduled to show off their newfound wisdom in the form of cheering together and performing stunts to their parents. The cheerleaders clapped from the sidelines and gave the middle schoolers high fives, proud of the progress they made together.
“We brought sixth to eighth graders to the Dance Studio so they can kind of see what Westwood Cheer is all about and encourage them to join our team,” Cheer Program Assistant Camryn Dolezal said. “We hope that the middle schoolers leave with a sense that they have what it takes to be a Westwood cheerleader.”
