Homecoming is a time of celebration for students but also requires a great deal of preparation for teams involved.
Every year the Sterling High School cheerleading and poms teams must prepare for homecoming including creating their routines, figuring out formations, incorporating senior parts, and having morning and night practices so they can practice on the field.
These girls worked on their routines for over a month to prepare for the big performance at the football game Friday night, October 6.
Senior Willa Lehman, one of the poms team captains, and a choreographer for the team said, “This year’s annual hip-hop routine was very fun to create. Everyone prepared every day with practice and perfecting the dance. The girls put in a lot of hard work.”
One job both teams have to do is make formations and create the choreography. This year the varsity cheerleaders carefully selected the music for their routine. They had to make sure it all flowed together well and then had to come up with the dance after.
Junior Esra Ramirez, one of the cheerleaders who choreographed the routine, said, “Making the routine was a little difficult because it was hard matching the movements up to the music we picked out.”
All routines need choreographers and their jobs are challenging. For the poms team, seniors Kristen Workman, Avery Vanoosten, and Willa Lehman choreographed the routine. For the cheer team the choreographers were juniors Esra Ramirez and Presley Winters. These girls worked hard to get the counts and movements to align with the music and make sure it all flowed well together.
This is the last time our seniors performed a homecoming routine, and with that, they had special moments and features during the routines. The cheer and poms teams both like to incorporate a special moment for their seniors. The cheer team has a part in their routine just for the seniors, that the seniors choreographed themselves. They also recognize the seniors at the end of the routine by having them step forward before everyone else to have their final bow.
These girls have practiced their routines for around a month. They have normal practices that take place after school. The cheer team also has morning practice and night practice so they are able to use the field to mark their spots and formations, and practice running from one spot to another.
Cheer coach Kiahana Krause says her team “prepared by practicing, practicing, and practicing!”
Both teams worked really hard preparing for their performances and their hard work showed on the field.
