Staples varsity cheerleading held competition team tryouts for the first time ever on Friday, Oct. 13. In past years, athletes were hand-picked by the cheer coaches to be on the competition team. However, things have changed for the 2023-24 season as anyone already on the game day cheer team must still try out if they wish to.
“I think that tryouts give people who want to be on the team an opportunity to show their talent and skills, it’s more fair than just being selected,” Dagny Dahl ’24 said.
At tryouts, athletes were asked to perform a dance, a cheer, and a running and standing tumbling. Their stunting abilities were also evaluated during practices. This year the competition team welcomes 14 athletes for the ’23-’24 season.
The competitive cheer season begins mid-way through the fall sports season and ends in early March. This team puts in hard work and dedication for weeks before its first competition, which is held in late January. The team practices four to five days a week, and they also participate in six-hour-long choreography in preparation for the routine.
“We work very, very hard as a team, […] [and people] don’t really know the behind the scenes of how much hard work is put into everything that we do,” Malaika Glin ’26 said.
The athletes on the competitive cheerleading team travel to different towns for each competition and participate in a competition every weekend till the end of the season.
Matia Berti, assistant cheerleading coach, shares her hopes for the competition team.
“We are going to be top five in the FCIAC, and we are going to nail a clean routine,” Berti said. “We are going to execute it well so we can show how much we’ve practiced since August.”
