As the fall athletic season gradually comes to a close, a new activity is preparing to make its long-awaited debut on the basketball court this winter. By popular demand, winter cheerleading for girls and boys basketball will be making a comeback at West Morris Central this year.
Although both the school’s boys and girls basketball teams have not had cheerleaders at their games in a number of years, there has been plenty of interest in seeing the activity recommence amongst the cheerleaders themselves, as well as within the WMC community. “The boys basketball team and their parents club have been asking to bring the program back for a long time, as it was something that existed before but just kind of faded out” explains Coach Helen Holl, a French teacher and first-year junior varsity head cheerleading coach at WMC. “We were able to get to know them all better this year, and all decided that it would be a great idea to reintroduce the program once again.”
After grasping athlete interest and availability through multiple surveys and Google Forms, varsity head coach April Astacio-Banda and Coach Holl concluded that about eighteen of WMC’s varsity cheerleaders would be participating this winter season. “We really wanted to try and make this season as flexible as possible for our cheerleaders that may be involved in other activities over the winter, while still having a strong presence at the games,” says Coach Banda.
The girls will be cheering at least ten boys and girls home games this winter, calling sideline cheers from the bleachers, performing brief dances during thirty and sixty second timeouts, and possibly even showcasing a halftime performance.
This season will definitely serve as a learning experience for all involved, as most of the cheerleaders have only become familiar with cheering on the sidelines for football games during their high school careers. “While definitely more fast-paced than what we are used to, I think that this season will also be more intimate in many ways,” expresses Coach Holl. “We will be right there on the bleachers, right in front of everyone. It may be a bit of a challenging adjustment at first, but I do think that it will be very nice for the girls and will showcase a new side to them.”
Coming off of a rather triumphant fall season for both WMC’s varsity and junior varsity cheerleading squads, Coach Banda and Coach Holl are extremely eager to see what this new experience will offer the cheerleaders, as well as themselves as coaches. “Not only will the girls become more well-rounded athletes, but this will also give us all a chance to bond even more,” Coach Banda remarks. “I have really high hopes for this season.”
The Paw wishes the West Morris Central varsity cheerleading squad the best of luck in their first winter season back and cannot wait to see what they are able to accomplish!
