DMS held cheer tryouts on Friday. Those selected for next year’s team were announced shortly after.
Cheer coach Whitney Gdanski led the tryouts and picked sixth and seventh-graders who she thought would do the best in cheer. The cheerleaders cheer during various games, such as football and basketball, and during school-wide assemblies and pep rallies.
Tryouts help locate potential cheer candidates via their skills in cheer and their school spirit. Regardless of whether a student had done cheer previously, the student is allowed to tryout, as long as they meet all the requirements. Boys and girls are both welcome to tryout.
Positions of cheer include the base, people who lift the flyer, the spotter, the safety of the performance, flag, presenting the flag with spirit, the backspots, the safety from behind, the flyer, the person in the air, although it’s not sure if flyers will be done.
The tryouts expect those who are trying out to perform basic cheers and also have a clear show of commitment and athleticism. However, cheer isn’t only about the moves, but also the spirit, enthusiasm, and hardship put into one’s performance.
JD Gdanski, a seventh grader, planned on trying out for cheer.
Gdanski hopes to be a flag boy, but does not like competitive cheer. He’s done it before and was introduced to it by his mom, who happens to be the cheer coach. He likes cheer because he gets to wave a flag, and to him, cheer is teamwork. He thinks that he would make flag boy.
Alea Musa, a sixth grader, also planned to try out for cheer. She loves the uniforms. She wants to be a flyer if they ever do it. To her, cheer is teamwork and flying; she really loves competitive cheer and has done it before. She was first introduced to cheer when she joined competitive. But then, she stopped doing that and hopes to do school cheer instead. She thinks that she would make the team.
“I like cheer because its super fun.” says Musa.
