The cheer team is about to expand past sideline support into the cheer competition season. On January 14, the Aroostook League Championship will be held at Caribou High School. The team is working through practices to prepare. “Even though our routine is simpler than freshman year, it’s still complicated and takes a lot of thought and time,” says Lindsey Himes ’23.

With COVID, the routines have had to be adjusted often to accommodate for missing students. Along with absent students for illnesses and quarantines, this year’s cheer team roster is also small on its own, so every athlete is heavily involved in all parts of the routine. The music plays a huge part in their routine and performance. Himes says that the music is not her style because she doesn’t enjoy hard rock, but Lita Perkins ‘25 says most of the music is upbeat and quick which is best for performing. “I do like it, but some of the parts are a little bit slow which is hard to cheer to,” said Perkins. 

Cheer competitions are permitted the same size crowd as other sports, depending on the school. They have lots of parents attending the competition and many supporters in the audience. “A student section would be fun to have but I feel like there’s enough people there to cheer for us,” said Perkins. 

As for physical wear and tear, Perkins says stunting and tumbling are the hardest part and her wrists hurt after lots of stunting. She also has sore muscles after each practice. An uncommon symptom Himes feels is a sore jaw after finishing so many sets of flips and stunts. Mentally, the most difficult part is keeping in time with the music and staying in sync with the team. “You usually find a certain word in the music and that’s when you do the certain count,” said Perkins. “In our music we put in “Presque Isle” and that’s when we come down and go back up.” 

Through all struggles with COVID, missing students and the physical demands of the sport, the cheer team has confidence they will make the most of the upcoming chances to perform and compete.