A cheer for the cheerleaders

Lacey Rees - lrees@sierrastar.com

 

 

If you want to raise the ire of cheerleaders, just suggest they are not ‘real’ athletes nor that cheerleading is a sport.

Au contraire. They will tell you of the physical requirements of their sport, of the competitions between squads, of the precise timing needed to perform certain stunts. They are right, and the cheer squads at Yosemite High School are no exception.

“It’s on ESPN isn’t it?” notes Anne Brooks, captain of Yosemite’s varsity cheer squad, adding, “It is one of the hardest sports because it is all year around.”

Jennifer Lincoln, the cheerleading coach for the school’s three squads, is herself a former cheerleader from Coarsegold School and Yosemite High School. She graduated in 1991 and is married to Kent Lincoln, YHS Spanish teacher and sports coach.

“These girls work their behinds off,” she says. Not only do they have their school work, but many take private dance lessons and some are involved in gymnastics, not to mention their cheer practices two days a week. Plus, they are required to be at all the fall and winter games — football, wrestling, basketball, soccer.

The girls — at Yosemite there are no guys on the squads, although Mrs. Lincoln says she would love to have some  — need a lot of stamina as they may go for an hour or more with non-stop moving during practices, doing a routine 10 to 15 times.

Strength is needed to lift a 90- to 110-pound girl in a routine and, of course, coordination is a must. “[The girls] do a routine 50 times, when all is said and done, to get it right,” she says. “It takes a lot of practice to get what you see at a game.”

In previous years, there had been just two teams, the JV and the varsity. This is the first year to have a varsity pep squad. While all the teams do cheering, each has its specialties. The varsity cheer squad does the stunts, tosses, holds, lifts and long-form cheers.

The pep squad does the long-form dance routines. “It gives the girls who are into dance a chance to showcase that talent,” says Mrs. Lincoln.

 

Self-supporting

“It is the only sport where they have to buy their own uniforms and pay to go to camp,” says Mrs. Lincoln. The school does not subsidize the sport at all, but “they know there is a cost involved going into it.” Besides the main uniform, each girl must buy warm-up shoes, a letterman jacket, shells, poms, and a long-sleeve shirt. They have fund-raisers to help with the accessories.

Both squads went to cheerleading camp this past summer in Santa Barbara, which is taught by the United Cheerleader and United Dance associations. While at camp the pep squad was invited to compete at the national championship in Orlando, Florida last month. While they did not place among the winners, they did make a decent showing, placing 18th out of 85 schools.  “We were only a point or two away from the semi finals,” reports Mrs. Lincoln. “It is hard to be competitive with such a small squad.”

One purpose of camp is to learn to do stunts correctly to avoid injury. Nevertheless, “Stuff happens,” she says. The varsity captain, for instance, will this summer need surgery for a shoulder injury. “Considering what they do, I am surprised we have as little injury as we do.”

 

Historic cheerleading

Ever since the first male yell captains led fans to root for a poor-performing football team at the University of Minnesota in the 1890s, cheerleading has been a part of high school and collegiate games. Gymnastics and tumbling were incorporated into the cheers by the 1920s, and women took over the male-dominated role during World War II. Pom-poms, cheer camps, cheer competitions and the dance squad followed, until the sport has now spread to Canada, Asia and Europe.

 

Dedicated to cheer

Mrs. Lincoln praises the dedication of the YHS girls and notes that as a team there are very few conflicts. “When I took over, my main goal was for the girls to enjoy themselves,” she says. “I explained they are only in high school for four years, and will not be cheerleaders forever. They work hard, and I want them to enjoy themselves.

“I think it is important to be involved in any type of sport. It keeps you focused on the good. They have someone other than Mom and Dad to keep track of them.” Mrs. Lincoln wants to keep the lines of communication open and be available if a girl wants to talk. A cheerleader, like any other sports participant, has to maintain a 2.0 grade point average to remain on the team.

Ultimately, the purpose of cheerleaders is to promote school spirit. At Yosemite they wear their uniforms on Fridays. They bake cookies for the football players. “It is school spirit epitomized,” Mrs. Lincoln observes. “If they would be taken away, I think they would be missed. They are there to back up the sports. They are our school spirit.”