From flipping for a packed student section, hyping up the students after a big touchdown, to cheering for a three-pointer with a smaller group in a different environment, Legacy cheer transitions from football to basketball season.
“There are many changes when we transition from football cheer to basketball,” senior Kennedy Milam said. “We have to split our team pretty much in half because of the tighter space and I feel like you have to try and look better because you’re more likely to be seen.”
Unlike football, basketball presents minimal breaks between plays, changing the pacing of how cheer performs.
“I feel like for football it’s easy to make it fun and engaging between plays,” Milam said. “But for basketball, it’s so much more back and forth, it’s harder to be engaged with the game so we have to adjust to that.”
The football schedule differs from basketball, which can lead to adjustments like different practice times and scheduling. For football, one game a week takes place, but for basketball, they play two a week.
“The games are a lot more for basketball season,” senior Chloe Calvin said. “During football season, it’s easier to have commitments out of school because you know you’ll have one game at the end of the week. During basketball season with multiple games throughout the week it can be challenging.”
The environment of the team differs from football season, also, with the different ways the team splits up and with the tighter gym setting, it can lead to stronger relationships.
“My favorite part about basketball season is the smaller groups we do,” Milam said. “It sucks that we’re not with the whole team, but I feel like we get more one-on -one time with people you don’t always talk to. We become like a closer-knit team during basketball season.”
With basketball season being right after football, cheer coach Meredith Conlin thinks it’s important to keep her team motivated.
“I’m really fortunate to have athletes who genuinely love what they do,” Coach Conlin said. “We sometimes get bogged down in the repetitiveness of practicing and perfecting routines, but there is always a new skill to learn, especially a stunt, that reignites that excitement if it begins to wane.”
Overall, the athletes say basketball allows their bodies to recover from football season. The change of sports allows them to use different parts of their body and use them less.
“We don’t have any after-school practice during basketball season,” Milam said. “We practice during the period and then we have games all season, but that’s it. It gives us a change in pace from practicing every day after school during football.”
