When it comes to showing school spirit and supporting the school, one of the biggest groups on campus that do this are the cheerleaders.
Snow College’s Cheer Team currently consists of 15 members. One member, Curtis Claws said, “My favorite part has got to be pushing myself. I love learning new stunts or tumbling harder than I ever have.” The team puts in a lot of hours and work in order to be prepared for games.
This includes trying new stunts and skills to show at games. Ridge Finlinson had this to say in regards to practices, “Our practices are typically 3-4 times a week from 7:30-9:30 a.m. We go over half time routines, learn new cheers and new stunts and tricks to do at games.” The cheerleaders take a lot of pride in upholding school spirit and traditions at games.
Annaje Vander Toolen, one of the captains said, “My role is to call out cheers during games. I’m in charge of making routines for us to perform during games along with new cheers to get the crowd involved.” The cheerleaders make it a priority to help rile up and excite the crowd in order to show support for the many teams here at Snow.
Finlinson talks about the experience by saying, “I loved cheering under the stadium lights, flipping across the field and performing half times during football games in the warm weather.” For many of Snow’s cheerleaders, being a part of a team that puts in the time to get to know one another and work as a team is a great experience. Claws refers to his time on the team by saying, “There’s something about being able to push yourself to do things you’ve never been able to do before. Especially when you’ve been trying to hit a skill for weeks, or sometimes even months……Once you finally hit it, it feels completely euphoric.”
Snow’s cheer team had the opportunity to compete and take second place at nationals last year, with the hope of being able to compete again next year. Claws said the most difficult part, “Is definitively partner stunting, it takes a lot of hard work, strength and practice to get good at it, but it’s also the most rewarding part of the whole thing, and the reason I cheer.”
Badgers who are looking for a way to show their school spirit are encouraged to try out for the 2023 team. Tryouts for next year's cheer team will be held on April 22nd and more information will be posted on the @snowcollegecheer instagram page as it gets closer.