At many of the sporting events we go to, whether it’s football, basketball, or lacrosse, the cheerleaders will be on the sideline, cheering on the team. As part of West Press Tries, I decided to attend one of the practices. When entering the practice I immediately felt the family-friendly environment they gave to each other, It seemed like they only supported each other and gave positive feedback.  And it was clear how much fun they had doing the cheers.

I wanted to try doing a cheer for myself, and I started off with an easy one. The cheer “Here We Go, Firebirds” is elementary to the cheerleaders who have memorized the cheer, but for an average kid like me, it was really hard. You have to rotate your arms around and then over your head.  The West Press really enjoyed my poor attempt at leading the cheer for the class!  Doing the routines were really difficult, during the pace, memorization, flexibility, and timing is key. 

From this experience, I learned that when you are a cheerleader, you also have to be engaging with the crowd, smiling, flexing, and displaying high energy. The work the cheerleaders put into their cheers is comparable to football or basketball players and is just as difficult. Doing this puts a new perspective on how much work a cheerleader puts in for each routine. With each move, each step, each shout, I can officially say that West Press has tried Cheer.