Have you ever wondered what happens during a typical cheer practice for the ERMS cheer squad? Well, as cheerleaders ourselves, Camille Evans and Sara Black, we can answer that! 

Practice usually begins with getting changed into proper cheer practice attire. For us, that’s wearing shorts or leggings along with our cheerleading shirts and cheer shoes. After getting changed, we begin warming up. We do our counts and stretches, as well as walk and run one lap around the gym. We will also perform our “motions,” which are specific cheer poses, such as the high V and touchdown pose. We have a count routine with these poses, and we refer to them as “motions.” 

After warming up, we begin practice. Sometimes, Miss Hill or Miss Spencer, our cheer coaches, will debrief about a recent game or give us a pep talk. Then, we’ll go over the cheers we know. Some notes we have are to be loud (so everyone can hear us during games), smile, keep a positive attitude, and be stiff during cheers. Once we review the cheers and refine them, our cheer captains, Deasha Davenport, Cadence Bartel, and Sa’renity Polk, will teach us some new routines. Sometimes during routines, we split up to teach cheers in groups, making it easier for the captains to give us corrections. 

At the end of practice, we finish on a good note by performing a cheer that we all know and have perfected in front of our coaches. Usually, it’s a cheer we’ve done a lot and have known for quite some time. And with that said, that is basically a summary of what our practice is like! Thank you for reading!