By Christopher Tremblay

Entering Norwood High School four years ago, the six seniors on this year’s squad were not all friends; but as they enter their final year on the cheerleading team, they couldn’t imagine themselves without one another.

The six seniors; Julia Abruzzese, Emily Gordon, Olivia Connor, Jessica O’Toole, Caitlyn Connolly, and Annie Sisk all tried different sports growing up but found they were not very good at any of them. Gordon always wanted to try cheerleading but her mother was against it, however, in the back of her head she knew she was going to do it in high school no matter what the commitment. 

O’Toole watched her older brothers playing football and being one that loved performing she wanted to cheer for the football team. Many were prior gymnasts and cheerleading fit into that mold with the dancing and tumbling, while some had friends that were part of a cheerleading squad and wanted to join in on the fun while trying something new. 

While the majority of the girls take part in both the fall and winter cheerleading seasons, a few of them participate in other sports as well. Sisk plays for the Norwood tennis team in the spring, Connolly runs spring track, and O’Toole, the only girl not to take part in both cheer seasons, runs winter and spring track. 

“I was always running around and wanted to stay in shape, so I joined the track team,” O’Toole said. “The high jumps and hurdles have helped me with my cheerleading.”

Although O’Toole is not with the team for both seasons, she is in their hearts.

“Originally being so close to one another I thought it would definitely be sad if we didn’t all stick to it together,” Abruzzese said. “We have such a strong bond with one another so we’re happy that she’s [O’Toole] doing what she loves to do although we do miss her.”

Cheerleading is an activity in which participants cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It originated in the United States and remains pre-dominantly in America with an estimated 3.85 million participants.

Cheerleading has become a year-round sport with most squads practicing two hours a day, three times a week during the summer months. Practices usually extend to five to six days a week during the high school season when cheering for the football and basketball teams, and during competition practices they could elevate to that seventh day, possibly two times a day if necessary. With the involvements of elements, such as jumping, tumbling, stunting, pyramids and crowd involvement, cheerleaders have their work cut out for them. 

However, despite all the work that cheerleaders put in, many do not consider them athletes.

“Cheer gets no respect,” Sisk said. “I’m not sure what it is, but people like to pick on us. I’ve been trying to figure it out. Even at home games cheering for our team there are not many fans for us. Not getting the respect that we deserve only makes us stronger.”

The other five seniors strongly believe that cheerleading is thought of as a non-sport and the squad doesn’t get the respect that they deserve for all they do.  They have heard that cheerleading is not competitive and not that hard to prepare for. According to Connolly, they don’t really understand how important it is to have the right people in the right positions to perform the stunts they do.

Gordon added to that.

“People continuously ask what we do during all that time we are practicing,” Gordon said. “They don’t understand how much work we put in, probably more than them in their sport. They are throwing balls around, we throw humans.”

It wasn’t until a recent pep-rally that some of the students in the high school really started to understand what cheerleading actually entailed. The Norwood cheerleading team showed the school what they actually do during a competition and got some positive feedback. 

The girls continue to promote their competitions, but no one comes to cheer them on. The Norwood student body will go just about anywhere for a football game, but no one really cares about a cheerleading competition. Cheerleading doesn’t seem to get the recognition they deserve.

Connor and Sisk are flyers for the team while Abruzzese and O’Toole are the back spots and Gordon and Connolly are the bases on the team.  Connolly is versatile and can also back spot if needed. According to Coach Jill Buckman, back spots are an important aspect to keeping the flyers up in the air, and without them you cannot really do much in terms of stunts.

“These girls are really special,” Buckman said. “They are really good friends, and you usually don’t find that kind of bond in cheer. They formed a friendship in cheer as freshman and four years later they are still all good friends. I feel that when you are that close and have your best friends surrounding you it helps. Their relationship is special, and they are all hard working, dedicated girls.”

Being thrown around during their routine the Mustang flyers must have the outmost trust in their backs.

“Being a flyer is nerve racking,” Sisk said. “As a sophomore, I received a concussion when my body decided to torpedo straight into the ground head first during a stunt.”

Connor noted you are basically in the hands of your back spotters.

“You have to trust your backs 100 %,” Connor said, “If one of them is moving or higher than another, things can go totally wrong. The routine is important, and the backs can make or break it.”

Gordon, who is now a base, tried flying for a short period, but she quickly found that it was not her thing, especially since she is not always confident in herself.

Abruzzese was a base for two years before moving to the back. She found herself growing taller and the team was in need of a back, so she tried it out. Once she got the taste for being responsible for catching the flyers and helping the stunt out, she really came to love the position.

O’Toole also loves the responsibility given to her as a back.

“There is definitely a lot more pressure on us,” O’Toole said. “But I love catching – they call me Jessica the Catcher as I have never dropped anyone.”

 

As the girls get ready for the winter season, they are hoping to once again get back to Regionals, especially after losing last season to competitive cheering for the most part.  Last year, they considered the season basically a skills and drills type of year as they we not allowed to cheer at the basketball games and with the switching of the fall season to fall 2, the girls only had a mere three weeks to learn their routine. They are more than excited to getting back on the sidelines for the basketball season this winter even if the students are not supporting them.

Taking part in their senior year the team is looking to go out on a high note. Last year they only got to cheer at four home football games and were only involved in one competition. Masks were also a hinderance while performing as they made the routines more of a challenge to do while trying to breathe as normally as they could. 

The Norwood seniors would love nothing more than to go out on top with a competitive championship, but if that is not something that they can accomplish they are hoping that more people realize that cheerleading is not just waving pom poms during a sporting event. They perform as athletes themselves in an actual competition that takes a lot of time and preparation in putting forth a flawless execution in front of the judges.