Cheer Club Spotlight
Stunting practice in the Commons / Credits: Coach Asia
The School Without Walls Cheer Team meets twice a week to develop jumps, tumbling, and dances. The team cheers at basketball games and competes in the DCIAA Cheer Competition at the end of March.
Captains Aliyah Blake and Lucca Domenici-Mills demonstrate at practices how to perform over 40 cheers and difficult stunts. Because both captains joined their freshman year, they work well with newer cheerleaders and are able to understand different perspectives.
Cheer is a great way to meet new people and make more friends, according to Domenici-Mills. “I joined cheer freshman year having never done it before,” she said in an interview. “I knew I wanted to make new friends at Walls and be more involved in the school community than I had been in middle school, and cheer seemed like a good way to do that.”
Domenici-Mills said she had learned a lot from former team leaders. “The previous captains definitely were great role models for me,” she said. “They showed me how to be a good leader. I try to emulate their patience and compassion as a captain now because I remember how much they influenced me when I was an underclassman.”
Junior Niyah Sapp's favorite aspect of cheerleading is dancing and stunting. “I'm really good at dancing and I love being a back spot,” she explained in an interview. “Also stunting establishes trust among the team.”
At the end of March the Cheer team attended their second DCIAA Cheer Competition. The team competed at level one, the lowest level, and performed a two-and-a-half-minute routine which incorporated all the aspects of all-star cheer, such as stunting, tumbling, jumps, and dancing. The team placed first in the level one category, defending their title.
Alice Deal Middle School has a notoriously successful cheer team, which usually wins all DCIAA competitions. Freshman Mattie Goodloe says, “Deal cheer is definitely different from Walls cheer because there’s no gym, so Walls doesn’t have the home court advantage in terms of school spirit. There’s also no football team to cheer for.”
Despite this downside, cheer is an excellent way to get involved in the school community, show school spirit, and build new relationships across grades.
Cheer meets in the Commons on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
