What it’s like Cheerleading in Covid-19
October 23, 2020
Since the rebirth of High School sports, many things have changed in relation to the way athletics operate. Can West-Morris’s cheerleaders hold up West-Morris’ famed school sports spirit even with the lack of student fans?
Many precautions around Covid-19 have been implemented into sports to make them more coronavirus-safe. This means that there are a limited number of fans attending games, less energy, and fewer games being played. Without these, the school spirit is dampened.
With the loss of fans, cheerleading has taken a massive blow to their sport. School-spirit is a vital component of cheerleading since the whole objective is to cheer for your school and represent your school in competitions and during games.
Abby Kupka, Sophomore, Varsity Cheerleader, said that the cheerleading team has had to work harder due to the Pandemic.
“ I think that we definitely have more responsibilities when getting ready for the football games and pep rallies because we want to show everyone at the school that we work really hard so we can make our routines look really cool to non-cheerleaders” — Abby Kupka
She added that they have more responsibilities, including being safe around the virus because of the small number of games.
Abby also stated that it has been harder to bond with new teammates due to the coronavirus lockdown.
“As a team, we usually go to team bonding where we get together and have dinner to get to know each other and we are unable to do this due to the pandemic, and I definitely feel that we were less able to get to know each other this year because of spending less time together”
To combat this lack of chemistry in the team, the team pairs seniors and freshmen during games to break the ice and bond.
Maeve Sharkey, Sophomore, JV cheerleader, stated that, for team bonding, “We text each other compliments”, and that they support each other virtually.
Maeve added that because students are not allowed to go to games it has brought more parents out in support of the football team. Although, it’s not the same without the ‘Mendham moshpit’ and other student fans that really bring the school spirit to the games.
This season has been very restrictive for cheerleaders given that their schedule was cut short due to the coronavirus and not being able to practice together. The West-Morris cheerleaders are doing the best they can to make the most of their restricted season.
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