By: Randie Hyer
MMHS Cheer has accomplished so much this year. We have held practices every morning from 6-10am, even in the summer. We are really proud and excited that this year everyone on our squad can tumble. Tumbling is very difficult and it’s rare to have a team where everyone has that ability.
We have our first state competition in January, and we are so excited. Last year was our first year competing, and we took 3rd in state. This ranking was good enough to qualify our team for a spot at the National Cheer Competition in California. There were 117 cheer teams competing at nationals. Maple Mountain took 8th overall.
This year we are going to be in more competitions with much harder routines. We are all excited to do just as well if not better than last year.
Varsity cheer team includes:
Randie Hyer (Captain), Ali Prothero (Captain)
Brittany Haun, Erin Elmont, Sidni Braithwaite, Erin Mayfield, Lexi Edwards, Haley Jarvis, Madie Wells
JV team includes:
Hannah Raine (Captain)
Kaydrie Molen, Ashlyn Perrero, Cassidy Tippets, Madison Tormey, Brittany Erekson, Amanda Pike, Kaitlin Maxfield
Coaches:
Caitlyn Dahl (Coach), Jamie rose (Assistant Coach), Melissa Haupt (Assistant Coach)
The life of a MMHS Cheerleader
Additional information by W.A.M.M. Blog, and Coach Dahl.
Cheer takes smarts. Maple Mountain cheerleaders are required to have a GPA of 3.0 or better. Nationally 83% of all Cheerleaders nationally have a 'B' grade point average or better. Our cheerleaders spend nearly 40 hours a week practicing and attending games and/or activities, and are gone 3-4 nights a week doing things. With so many hours spent with cheer, keeping up with the a 3.0 minimum GPA is a massive task on its own, and yet our cheerleaders do it!
Cheer takes guts. Try reaching out and touching your toes while being thrown twenty feet in the air, while trusting that you’ll be caught in the arms of people below. Or try running, jumping backwards on your hands, springing yourself into the air, flipping, twisting, and landing on your feet ALL on a hardwood floor. In front of hundreds of people The reality is Cheerleading is the most dangerous female sport in high school. Over 65% of all major injuries in female sports come from cheerleading.
Cheer takes dedication. For each hour we see our cheerleaders at the game doing their job, they have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours behind the scenes. Not only does the MMHS cheer team practice each day from 6:00 AM to 10:00 AM including summer months, but our cheer team also represents our school in 3-4 parades during the summer. They also spend time making posters, planning spirit assemblies, and recognizing our team players with posters at their homes. The cheer season doesn’t end with football season, or basketball season. Cheer is there doing their work supporting the school through all of the other sports seasons.
People will ever know just how much work being an MMHS cheerleader requires. You have to be in it to believe it!
It might be interesting to know how many hours, actually, go into cheer for ONE YEAR!!!!!! Here is a breakdown of the hours spent by our MMHS cheerleaders (this doesn’t include the hundreds of hours of personal time it takes to reach a level of making the team):
Tryouts: 12 hours
After school practices: 90 hours/year
Summer practice: 300 hours/year
Morning practices: 540 hours/year
Parades: 12 hours
Football games: (sophomore jv and varsity):76 hours
Sign painting/making: 80 hours
Boys basketball (soph, jv, varsity): 150 hours
Girls basketball: 100 hours
Wrestling: 40 hours
Bus rides to events: 50 hours
Assemblies: easily 10 hours
Decorating school and also planning homecoming, etc.: 50 hrs
Cheer competition itself: 150 hours (3 state competitions and one 5 day national competition)
That’s 1,648 hours.. This means if they spent that same time at a job at $8/hour they’d make $13,184 for the same amount of time. This is per year, so multiply it by 3 for a high school career of cheer.
So what is the life of a Maple Mountain High Cheerleader? It’s one of hard work, constant service and close friendship.
From one MMHS student, let me just tell cheer... THANK YOU!
