With a new competition routine and daily practices underway, the Oglethorpe County cheerleading team is ready for Friday night lights.
Coach Morgan Williams has seen the team grow from doing basic cheers on the sidelines to completing stunts, tumbling and choreography camps in the past four years.
“We pretty much do like the whole 9 yards,” she said. “It’s a complete 180 from what it was. Before, it was more like a sideline spirit, and now we compete (for) game days.”
With 12 returning cheerleaders and seven new girls joining the team, she said the majority of the returning squad are juniors and seniors. Four seniors are back for their last season.
“I do have a good bit of freshmen, but next year, when I lose the junior class that’s coming up, that’ll be a big loss,” she said.
Senior Kensie Brown and junior Sara Myers will be the captains this year.
Williams said she didn’t form a JV squad this season because there weren’t enough girls for two teams. She plans to have the varsity team cheer for one of the JV football games.
She said there will be a “couple” alternates but is “pretty sure all of them have proven themselves to be on varsity.”
Brown said summer practices were “hard” and “a lot of fun,” adding that she and her teammates also participated in a Fellowship of Christian Athletes cheer camp at Emmanuel University.
The team also completed stunt work and tumbling classes a majority of the summer, working on their cheer routines roughly two weeks prior to the start of the season.
“They were doing a lot of conditioning-type stuff, like squats, push ups,” Williams said. “That kind of stuff to build stamina. Now we’re in crunch time to get ready for games.”
The new 2½- to 3-minute competition and gameday routine will start with a band chant, followed by a rally cheer with stunts and tumbling and end with the fight song.
“We’re definitely growing a lot because we understand (the routine) more and so we know what to expect,” Brown said. “And we know what we want it to look like.”
The girls will also attend three competitions during the regular season that will act as practice before the state competition in December.
Williams said the team went to state for the first time last year and placed 13th overall.
“A goal would be to get into the top five and hopefully win,” Williams said. “That would be ideal.”