Junior Cheer Camp Fun For All

Sarah McKinnis

Varsity and Junior Cheerleaders take the field at halftime.

Mikayla Yount, Reporter

Monday September 14th junior cheer camp starts. The Varsity cheerleaders will teach the younger kids a chant, a cheer, and a dance to grades pre-K through 4th grade. A chant is normally what is done while plays are being made to get the crowd inolved in the game more. A cheer is a longer version of a chant but they perform these in the middle of quarters to continue to encourage the team and crowd.
Then there is the dance which is performed at half-time. The Varsity got to teach the younger kids all week and then on Friday 18th the younger kids got to perform at half-time.

Leah Wahlquist said that she enjoys teaching the young cheerleaders. She added, “Yes, I enjoy seeing them improve also they have so much energy, that it carries over to the Varsity squad!”

Leah is one of the cheerleaders that got to make the cheer to teach to the younger kids. Tristan Foster and Angelina Vasquez got to teach the kids the dance this year. Brooke Compton says she really enjoys the whole process. “We both like to make up dances so it just comes naturally to us.” Brooke Compton got to make up a chant for the kids, when asked do you enjoy making up the chant and why or why not she said, “Yes, because I like getting to teach the kids new things and because it’s fun.”

Stephanie Brown, Varsity head coach, says that this camp helps the kids become better cheerleaders because it lets them know what to expect when they get into middle school and high school. In this camp they are learning similar cheers to what the Varsity cheerleaders learn, they are just easier words and motions for the kids to use.

After the younger cheerleaders performed, Alix Harris said she had a lot of fun with the high schoolers. She added that her favorite part was, “Learning the dance because I got to practice with the big cheerleaders.” She also said that she hoped to someday be a Fair Grove High School cheerleader. She stated, “It’s fun cheering in front of other people.”

This is not the only camp the cheerleaders will be doing this year, they will also be doing one during basketball season.