As the 2024-25 football season hits its peak, school spirit is felt in the air. Football games prove a staple of the American high school experience. The Lakota East Cheer team leads the student section dressed in game-day themes through chants and cheers.
The key to getting the crowd engaged and excited is to perform impressive stunts, according to East senior and varsity football cheerleader Nicole Revelee.
“We want to get the crowd’s attention and get them hyped, as well as showing that sideline cheer is a sport and we put a lot of hard work into these stunts,” Revelee told Spark. “It takes a lot of hard work and time from our days to do them,” Revelee told Spark.
East senior and varsity football cheerleader, Danielle Henson, described cheer stunts as “a group of cheerleaders working together to perform lifts, throws, and pyramids.”
Stunting typically involves a flyer, a back spot (people supporting the flyer), and bases (the people holding the flyer up).
“The bases and backspot use their strength to lift the flyer into various positions, while the flyer maintains balance and performs poses,” Henson told Spark. “It’s a combination of strength, coordination, and trust among the team members.”
During the 2023-24 cheer season, the East cheer team performed preps, extensions, and combinations of flips and pyramids at football games. This has changed for the 2024-25 season, with new stunts at a higher difficulty level being performed. Varsity football cheerleader and East senior Kelsey Jones said that new stunts are set in motion for the team’s second year stunting, as they gain the coordination and strength necessary to hit more difficult skills without injury.
“The stunts being introduced aren’t really anything new to us, but they are new in the aspect that we have gained more skills over the year and have to be able to finally try and hit the larger and cooler stunts,” Jones told Spark. “These stunts usually include the flipping but also extension libs and more solid extensions.”
The team trains accordingly for the stunts by weight lifting and conditioning. They also practice stunting at each practice to build up strength and confidence in their stunts. In a typical week, they have two to three practices that are two hours long, or the occasional three-hour practice as they approach the Greater Miami Conference (GMC) competition in November.
“This previous year, and this year, we have been trying to improve our cheerleading program. We have added stunting, weight training, competitions, new spirit ideas, and more school interaction,” said Jones. “It’s so cool being able to see in front of our eyes a new and better program being built, a program that can help build the respect and appreciation for cheerleaders as well as more opportunities for the cheerleaders to give back and help the school and community.”
While stunting showcases the girls’ training and practice, it is also used as a tool to invoke excitement and school spirit from East students.
“This year we have done a lot more complex stunts involving multiple stunt groups. We even started practicing a stunt where the flyer is tossed around 7 times, representing the point for a touchdown,” said Henson.
In the past, the East cheer team has not stunted. Stunting was introduced to the team during the 2023-2024 school year and they continue to work to increase the difficulty of the stunts they perform.
“Sideline cheer is now amping up and becoming a sport. With doing difficult stunts we hope to bring more spirit and excitement to our school,” said Revelee.
Stunting has brought the girls together with more rigorous training, and a goal of keeping the football game crowds excited and involved. According to Henson, stunting has been a “wonderful opportunity.”
“It gives us all a chance to showcase our skills, build strong teamwork, and achieve impressive feats,” said Henson. “The thrill of performing and the sense of accomplishment when a stunt goes well is incredibly rewarding. Plus, the trust and bonds formed with each other make this experience even more meaningful!”