As the crowd cheers, a different crowd stands just outside the door, trying to keep their voices down. But despite the team’s best efforts, the gaggle of kids still hums with excitement. Ages 5-13, they are waiting to perform during the halftime show of the 2/9 Boys Varsity Basketball game against Windsor High School.
Over the course of two days, these students spent hours learning a routine, getting to know each other, practicing stunts, and learning cheers – all in preparation for this moment, where, as the student section cheers them on and parents stand with cameras at the ready, they will get a taste of what it feels like to be a fully-fledged cheerleader. The camp, an annual fundraiser for the Cheer team, gives young students an opportunity to sample the experience of being on a Cheer team, as well as make new friends and become acquainted with the CHS community. It also gives the older students a chance to put their cheer – and leadership – skills to the test. By the end of the camp, the teens and kids had all bonded, forging new friendships the kids will remember for years to come.
To begin with, the kids participated in various bonding activities to get to know the student leaders and one another. They sang “Little Sally Walker,” and played Simon Says. Then they were broken into groups, organized by the CHS students. The large majority of the camp was all coordinated and led by the team, explained Ms. Thorne, the cheer coach. “The captains make the groups, they make the schedule, and I just step back and let them do their thing.”
Then, the kids began to learn dances. They started off with songs like the Cupid Shuffle and eventually moved on to learning the real routine. “We did a dance and we also did like stunts,” said Alora, a second grader at Meadowlark who participated in this year’s camp. She and her friend Astrid, also in second grade at Meadowlark, said they felt like the camp was “gymnastics, dance, and cheer all together.” “And stunts!” Astrid added. The two were very excited to perform. Thorne said that, although she enjoys the whole experience, the best part is waiting for the performance. “When [the kids] get their bows and their shirts their eyes always light up,” she said.
Back at the game, the group makes their way towards the bleachers to cheer during the first half. Walking from the Argo to the student section, they form human chains, with the Cheer team guiding the campers. Just as the game is starting, Thorne brings out a surprise: boxes full of blue and silver pom poms, one for each kid. They all begin clamoring to get one. “[Snack time] is just like the best thing ever for them, but I think now the pom poms are the best thing ever,” she said, watching with amusement as the kids begin aggressively waving the poms. She explains that the camp serves as a really simple fundraiser for the teams; they run it every year during the football and basketball seasons. “It’s a good way to get families and people from the community into the games while their kids are little… get them to [see] ‘oh, this is a really cool environment, maybe we should send our kids here!’” said Thorne. “It’s kinda like an outreach program at the same time.” They only recruit from schools that feed into Centaurus (such as Ryan and Angevine), hoping to increase student’s interest in attending here for high school. As she talks, the kids are making good use of their new poms, occasionally hitting a Cheer member in the face.
Sometimes the kids have such a good time in the camp that they come back multiple years in a row. “We’ve had ten this year who came with the previous year’s shirts, and that’s really cool,” said Thorne. Astrid, the Meadowlark student, was one of those ten. “It was so fun last time that I was just like, ‘Ya! I wanna keep going!’” she said. Attending multiple times also meant that she was able to spend more time with some of the friends she had made during last year’s camp. “I saw one of my friends Hannah… this time I got to call her Hannah banana.”
And it’s not just the kids: the CHS students really enjoy the experience as well. Kyla Powers (‘25), one of the team’s co-captains, said “Their excitement and love of life is so fulfilling to me; it just makes me so happy.” She said she liked getting to be a leader for the kids and teaching them stuff that was new to them. “Me and one of the littles in my group kind of came up with a little inside joke, and that made me really happy,” said Powers.
Izzy Tranovich (‘27) also had fun spending time with the “littles,” as the team calls the kids. During the game, she kept a close eye on a four-year-old named Joy, who looked at her adoringly as they warmed up, waited outside, and throughout their entire performance. It was clear that the two had created a strong connection during the camp. “They were really cute; watching them do their dances and all that and helping them was really fun.” The noise of the game grows louder behind her as a player makes a shot.
The overwhelming favorite activity of the camp was stunting, as Alora and Astrid repeatedly affirmed during their interview. Astrid eagerly described her role as flier (the one being thrown during stunting). “It was good! You have to literally get on their knees. It’s not as high as the cheerleaders normally do it, but it’s like a thigh stand,” she said. Alora was a base. “I was the supporter…I was the one where they stood on my thigh,” she said. Astrid said the best part of being around the older students was “what they can teach me.” “They taught me stunts, they threw me in the air! It was a good lesson to fly.”
Finally, after much anticipation, it’s time for the performance. The kids enter the gym, soaking in the loud encouragement of the crowd. They perform their routine, with the Cheer team spread amongst them. There’s pyramid stunting, pom pom waving, and lots of smiles. For a few seconds several times during the dance, everyone is in the air, arms outstretched in a synchronized toe-touch jump.
Every kid has a genuine cheerleader grin on their face. When the music stops, they exit to more cheering, running to greet their parents. When asked whether the camp made them want to be cheerleaders more or less, Alora and Astrid immediately replied, at the same time, “More!”
