Trust is falling from ten feet in the air and expecting to be caught. Danger is the possibility of breaking an arm in front of the entire school. Commitment is devoting all but a week and a half of a year to a sport. Spirit is standing outside in freezing cold and melting heat, to support a team passionately without a doubt. This is cheerleading.
Every Friday night, the team stands in front of the crowd, devoting their bodies and safety to the pulse of the night. They come out bruised–but proud.
However, this year the cheerleaders are participating in their first ever competition. The county competition will be held in November, and though they haven’t been able to compete in it before, excitement comes with the new challenge.
“I can’t wait for cheerleading Perry vs. Southport,” junior Ella Brizendine said, a few weeks out from the big rivalry football game.
But living under the Friday night lights is not all they do. Yearly, the team helps out with the middle school program, teaching them safety and routines.
“Watching the program grow is so important,” junior Haley Carr emphasizes. “They look up to us.” With the middle school promoted game taking place last Friday, the younger students have been practicing with Perry’s cheerleaders. The preparation is time consuming, taking a portion out of the high schools team’s practice and devoting it to the expansion of the younger girl’s skills.
“Cheerleading is one of the most dangerous sports,” senior Lauren Patterson explains, “just because it’s so contact and we are so close together.”
A study from the New York Post agree with Patterson’s danger rating, showing that 66% of life shortening or disability inducing injuries by female athletes are attributed to the sport.
With something so threatening, cheerleaders have to be trained. About three practices are utilized to perfect a routine, and everything they have is packed into a couple minutes.
“It takes three months to perfect our homecoming routine,” Brizendine said. “Normal routines take one practice to learn and three to perfect.”
So, why do these young women give so much time for a sport? Why so much risk? So much time? What is the reward?
“The best part is being known as school spirit,” Carr said. “It’s all about being part of the game and getting the crowd involved.”
The jumps. The tumbling. The clapping of hands. The scratching throats from screaming all night long.
They are the heartbeat of the school, and they always will be.