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By Cecilia Schutt<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Photo courtesy of Abby Gotzkowsky<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Willow School\u2019s cheerleaders are bringing school spirit again this year, with positivity and new tricks up their sleeves. One might say the positivity the cheer team brings has to do with the close bonds among the group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe thing I like most about cheerleading are the girls on the team.\u201d said sophomore Isabella Swanson. \u201cThey’re so encouraging, and I think we’re a very tight-knit team.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI love the community and friendships I’ve made from cheering.\u201d said sophomore Olivia Moses. \u201cI\u2019ve become a lot closer with my coaches, which also helps with my dancing, since they\u2019re dance teachers, too. I\u2019ve made friends with girls I wouldn\u2019t have talked to on my own, and they\u2019re some of my closest friends to this day. I also like how my friends cheer us on, while most people only cheer on the football players and how friendly everyone is in the cheering community, even from other schools.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Students new to the cheer squad are also saying that things are looking up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can’t wait to make new friends and be on the sidelines.\u201d said senior Delanie Sundmaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Veterans of the team have also expressed their enthusiasm for the upcoming year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m feeling incredibly excited about this season. Since it\u2019s my last one, I\u2019m determined to make it my best and give it everything I\u2019ve got,\u201d said senior Kylie Butler. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n As for new things, this season, the team is going to focus more on stunts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis year we are doing stunts and more tumbling during the games and half-time performances, which we would rarely do before.\u201d said Moses.\u201cWe\u2019re doing stunts with a main base, a side base, and a back spot in a prep position where the flier\u2019s arms are in a high V, and then popping down to a clean position before spiriting!\u201d A flier in cheering is the person that is being raised into the air when doing stunts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And a new season means a shift in leadership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n “We are missing the seniors from last year, which means now the current seniors, juniors, and sophomores have to step up,” said sophomore Vivian Jupiter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe lost some strong teammates due to graduation, but I think it has made our team closer,\u201d said Butler, who is one of this year\u2019s team leaders. \u201cWe’re all working very hard to keep the bar high and support each other more than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the cheer squad is known for bringing school spirit to football and basketball games, they are also present at a variety of other events. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCheer season is all-year long. We cheer during the fall games and winter games, and we have events to do during the spring season. So it is a year-long commitment,\u201d said junior Maricella Blancaneaux. Some of these events include volleyball, sports assemblies, senior nights, and events on other campuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt the middle school schedule day, we went and greeted people at the door and helped parents and new students navigate the building,\u201d said Moses. \u201cWe\u2019ve also helped guide people at our open house as well as high school spirit day, too.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Students at the Willow School can count on their cheer team to raise school spirit and spread positivity, no matter what event. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Cecilia Schutt Photo courtesy of Abby Gotzkowsky The Willow School\u2019s cheerleaders are bringing school spirit again this year, with positivity and new tricks up<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archived","two-columns"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willowpostdiluvian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/84D2E9BA-0EAA-4440-9772-E9AA809DD612_1_105_c.jpeg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowpostdiluvian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowpostdiluvian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowpostdiluvian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowpostdiluvian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowpostdiluvian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=751"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/willowpostdiluvian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":768,"href":"https:\/\/willowpostdiluvian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751\/revisions\/768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowpostdiluvian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowpostdiluvian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowpostdiluvian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowpostdiluvian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}