The cheerleaders at RHS work really hard to get our energy up at the games and perfect their performances. We always see them looking so happy and excited to be there doing all their cheers but we really don’t know all the work they put in behind the scenes. Just like any other sport cheer has its ups and downs but most of the girls love cheering and would say the good things outweigh the bad. 

Working together as a team is a very important part of cheerleading. If one person doesn’t give their all in the performance it can mess up the whole thing. They have to be able to communicate and trust each other for it to turn out the way it should.

“You really just have to put trust into your teammates and make sure everyone does their part so no one gets hurt. You just need to be an all-around good team player”, says varsity cheerleader, Paige Eddy, junior. 

Not only does the sport teach you how to be a team player it also allows you to meet new people and make new friends. All four classes work together during cheer so the sport really allows you to get to know underclassmen and upperclassmen through this experience. 

“I love making friends and getting close with people I would’ve never met if it weren’t for cheer. A lot of my friends in my grade didn’t continue cheering for their senior year, which made me get even closer to underclassmen cheerleaders than before”, stated Kayla Pankey, senior.

Other than getting to know their teammates and creating new friendships, the best part of cheer is the football games. The students, parents, and staff love to see the new halftime performances they learn every week, and the team loves performing it and getting the crowd going.

For many of the girls, they would agree that the Friday night football games are the most exciting part of the sport because of the adrenaline rush it gives you. 

“The games are full of excitement, being able to be in front of the student section and get the crowd going, and getting that adrenaline from performing what we have been perfecting all week”, says Pankey.

Cheer is definitely a difficult sport to perfect and adapt to. Considering the fact that they practice four days a week for up to two hours, it obviously takes a lot of practice. You have to have a lot of skills not only for cheer but mental skills that help to get through the hardships of the sport.

“The hardest part of cheer is being able to persevere after failing, perfecting a stunt is really difficult and having the courage to keep trying and go again is super difficult”, says JV cheerleader, Payton Miller-Kay, sophomore. [sno-poll id=”13007″ result_color=”undefined” tile_color=”undefined” align=”left” background=”on” background_color=”” border=”all” border_color=”” border_size=”” shadow=”on”]