Cheerleading Under the Circumstances

%2APhoto+was+taken+pre-Covid

*Photo was taken pre-Covid

This school year is a little different from the rest, as everyone can already tell. This pandemic has taken a toll on a lot of extracurricular activities, such as cheerleading. Over the summer, workouts were held over Zoom. I asked varsity cheerleader Catherine Poole what she thought of it and she said, “I wouldn’t know because I pretty much skipped each Meet”. The Zoom calls progressed to in-person workouts, six feet apart, of course, but soon got canceled because of the coronavirus. Over this past summer, the squad was scheduled to attend UCA camp in ULM, but it was also canceled. Mrs. Bourque would not let us go a year without cheer camp, so to improvise, two of the UCA staff members Zoom called in and the squad had their very own camp in the SMP gym. 

The school year has begun and cheer is going on a normal schedule as usual. On Tuesday’s and Thursday’s from 3-5, the cheerleaders are working on material for football games, pep rallies, and competition. This will be the third year the Ascension cheer squad goes to competition. This year, it will be held in Hammond, Louisiana on November 8th. At first, we thought we were not going to be able to have an in-person performance because of the circumstances, but thankfully it is possible. Instead of having an audience, it will just be each squad performing once for the judges. The big day is just around the corner, so the cheerleaders are working hard to get it perfect because we want to win. The football schedule has finally been announced (better late than never am I right?), and the team is very excited to be on the sideline, cheering for our favorite team during our favorite season. I’m sure we are not the only ones counting down the days until the first game on October 2nd.

Our captain and co-captain this year are seniors Audrey Abshire and Claudia Jones. Ask anyone on the team and they will tell you they are doing an amazing job at leading and organizing the squad. I asked Captain Audrey how she thinks cheer is going so far and she said, “I am so impressed with how these girls have handled such a challenging start to the cheer season! We are taking it head-on and working so hard to be the best we can be. We’ve already grown so close this year and I’m so excited to see my girls grow this year!” So far this cheer season has been so fun and very successful even throughout all the obstacles. You can always count on the cheerleaders to get through a rough time, even if its a global pandemic.