Photo courtesy of Coach Kayla Thompson
When the football team takes the field this fall, it has a much larger cheer leading team leading the crowd.
The Pirates now have almost three times as many cheerleaders as 2024. This sudden increase in participation has allowed them to have a JV team again.
Coach Kayla Thompson stated “I am really excited about the upcoming season,” said head coach Kayla Thompson. “We have a total of 18 girls, seven on varsity, 11 on JV. This is the first time in a while that I’ve been able to have a full JV squad”.
It has been two years since Riverside has had a JV team.
Thompson said it’s great to grow the program but it also presents challenges.
“There’s a big difference between feeding seven versus 18,” she said.“ I am definitely in need of an assistant… someone who has more skills in traditional cheers, so that we can participate in some of the exhibitions.”
Varsity cheer captain Dania Berhane loves having a JV team.
“We have a lot more people interested in cheer this year,” she said. “I hope in the future it happens more.”
Taliyah Cooper, another varsity cheerleader, thinks students are more interested this year because the team has moved away from the traditional style of cheer.
“Stomp and shake makes things so amazing,” Cooper said. “I think the new forms of cheering has a lot more girls wanting to do it.”
Berhane thinks the participation in cheer is up because of their work to build interest in the program.
“I feel like in the past, we’ve been doing a lot more like cheer clinics, and we have been trying to get more involved when it comes to fundraising.”
With the new changes to the team this year, many cheerleaders are excited about the upcoming season.
Sophomore Shae Gildore said summer workouts also helped.
“I think it’s gonna be a good year,” Gildore said. “We worked hard in workouts this year.”
“I’m just really excited to see what’s going to happen,” said Berhane.
The Pirate cheerleaders will be back in action this week at the football game versus Hillside.
