Due to the absence of a freshman cheer team on account of lack of participants, the JV and varsity teams have attended sporting events beyond their usual football and men’s basketball games. They now alternate cheering for frosh football, flag football, women’s basketball and wrestling for this season.
“Having cheer at our [wrestling] matches brings more energy to the crowd and gets everyone excited. They kind of came out of nowhere, but we were all just like: ‘This is cool that they’re here,’ that initial feeling was really surprising, and it’s super exciting to have them there supporting us,” Tristan Papas said.
Cheer aims to embrace the culture of supporting their peers and other programs. The teams and coaches branch out to be inclusive and provide a sense of cohesion for activities on campus besides sports, such as LTA’s, rallies, ASB activities and X-Factor games. Their attendance at various events allows them to have a role in establishing an uplifting environment for the players and spectators to keep up the energy, spirit and support as events go on.
“Whitney High School cheer’s vision is to support Whitney High School and its programs in the best way we can, while still maintaining the integrity of the cheer program. We participate in events to encourage a sense of community within Whitney,” Coach Philippa Jimosse said.
Jimosse said the cheer program wants to help recognize and illustrate their respect for the hard work, commitment and dedication the student athletes pour into their programs and education.
“It’s really fun being on the sidelines to see other sports and to support them. Usually, we only cheer for football and basketball, until last year when we added wrestling, and this year we get to see more variety. Being at the different events has led me to the realization of how much I prefer being outdoors than indoors because you’re not as close to the action, and how much I prefer football and basketball to the other sports because we aren’t the only group providing spirit,” Julia Muldong said.
Cheerleaders spend almost 12 hours together each week, including team dinners on Thursdays, practice at least four nights a week and game days, which replace that day of practice.
“[Since] I already do multiple different things outside of cheer, it’s not too much to the point where I can’t handle it. Taking AP classes, being a class officer and news director for broadcasting can definitely affect being on varsity cheer just because I still have to devote a lot of time to all of them. The team now going to more events has affected me because I have to do more work, which is fine, but at the same time it’s important to find my balance,” Muldong said.
by ALEXANDRA BOSANO & NATALIE DEEBLE
