Bearden cheerleading is focusing this season on including new cheers, developing a new team atmosphere, and building quality leadership.
Bearden cheer will compete at the high school national championships this year, and they are using the football season to prepare. They are not building up to nationals without practice, as they are registered for multiple competitions this year.
The team has a completely new routine that they worked on with University of Tennessee cheerleaders to make them nationals ready.
“We have focused a lot more on competing because we want to get to the high school national championships this year,” co-captain Cally Maxwell said. “Last year we did a practice competition but we’re taking it a lot more serious this year.”
Bearden cheer has 10 seniors on the team. This has led to an attitude of leadership among the older cheerleaders. Many feel that they have stepped up and they have made the choice to mentor the younger years.
“There are a lot of older girls on the team and very few younger girls so [there are] a lot of leaders,” co-captain Kennedy Crateau said.
This rise in upperclassmen has also contributed to a more positive atmosphere, despite the significant percentage of new members this year. This new atmosphere has led to a feeling of family and close knit community.
“We used to not be super close [as we were still getting to know each other], and now we’re all best friends,” Crateau said.
The team is hoping to improve and attempt to make it to nationals this year. If Bearden makes it this year, it will be the first time since 2015 that they have been represented at the high school nationals. To get there, the team is working on improving how they practice and function as a group.
“I think we honestly need to improve our stamina,” senior Savannah Goan said. “We need to keep motivating each other to keep going, to keep spiriting, to keep being loud.”