The WHHS sideline and competitive cheer teams have been hard at work perfecting their cheers. Many members from both teams started cheering at WHHS in seventh grade, including SENIOR Kyndall Griffin.

“It’s been a good experience,” Griffin said, “I started in seventh grade and that was probably my favorite year just because of the nostalgia.”

During football and basketball games, you may see WHHS sideline cheerleaders there to pump up the crowd and get everyone into the school spirit. Although WHHS has not won many football games this season, the WHHS cheerleaders found a way to maintain their pep throughout the season. 

“Even though we might not win all the time, it’s still really fun to cheer and support our school and our team,” varsity cheerleader, Amyll Dawson, ‘24, said.

The last official varsity football game of the season was Oct. 22, and it was an emotional time for the SENIOR varsity cheerleaders.

“It’s a little bittersweet just because it’s senior night, and I’m going to miss my cheer sisters,” Dawson said.

As football season comes to a close, the cheerleaders must now transition into basketball season. 

When asked about the difference between cheering on the sidelines for football games versus basketball games, Dawson said, “[Basketball games are] a lot more hectic and chaotic, but I love it. It’s also a lot more intimate because we’re right up on the nuthouse and the players are right up on us,” 

No matter what games the team is cheering at, they are present to set a good example for other students that would like to showcase their school spirit. 

“I feel like we’re crowd leaders, and we kind of sway the energy of the game,” Dawson said. “ If we’re up and we’re super energetic, then the nuthouse is up and energetic.”

With the football season coming to an end, the WHHS competitive cheerleaders are also getting ready for their first competition on Nov. 19.

“This competition season typically technically started at the beginning of October,” Griffin said. “So people start practicing and making the routines in August.”

Practices for competitions are very demanding and require a lot of time and effort.

“We try to start our routines a few months in advance so that we can ingrain it in our brains and then it just becomes muscle memory,” Dawson said.

Including nationals, the team usually attends two to three competitions a year.

“We do the regional [competition], then we do the ECC competition and then nationals,” Dawson said.

Unfortunately, the team couldn’t go to nationals ‌last season because it was above their budget. To raise money for nationals this year, the team is taking part in fundraisers all around Cincinnati.

 “At almost every game, the competition team sells Krispy Kreme doughnuts,” Dawson said, “We also do little events like Cincy Soul where we can get money for setting up tents.”

With all the time the cheerleaders spend together, they have created an unbreakable bond that was sparked by their love of cheer. 

“It was just nice being able to be with the team and creating a sisterhood,” Griffin said.