The MCHS cheerleaders

Cheerleaders preforming (Rheya Bushan, The Puma Prensa)

Written By: Rheya Bushan, staff writer

Standards of how important cheerleaders are to schools around the world have been increasing recently, and the girls at Maria Carrillo High School can only affirm that. For a long time, cheerleading wasn’t even considered a sport, and it was even ridiculed for its short and revealing clothing. But now, cheerleaders are respected, have fun, and worry less about looking good for everyone else and more about looking good for themselves.. And anybody can join the team. It’s bonding, like a family, and fun all put together.

To put it into terms that others can understand, cheerleading is a sport that involves an organized performance, including cheering, chanting, and dancing, to support a sports team at a game. So, cheerleading requires an incredible amount of precision, grace, and talent, as well as a strong and athletic body. It's not exactly something for the timid of heart.

Breanna Jensen, a freshman on the Junior Varsity cheer team, gushed about the sport. “I’ve been cheerleading for only one year, but it feels really exciting to watch everyone in the crowd and everyone cheering us on as we cheer our football team on!” 

At the football games, this is precisely what happens. The crowd practically buzzes with anticipation until the football team scores a touchdown or kick, and when they do, the cheerleaders come out with their pom-poms and megaphones. Almost immediately, the crowd reacts, calling cheers out with them and interacting in a wholesome way.

Unknown to most, the behind-the-scenes for the cheerleaders are different from what the spectators think.  A junior on the Varsity team, Gabriela Mendoza, had lots to say when asked how performing in front of a vast crowd felt. “Honestly, I feel like, before we take on the field, the nerves—I just don’t feel like myself,” Mendoza explained. “I feel anxious and scared, but I know it's so exciting once we get out there. It’s honestly just so rewarding to be out there.” 

The incredible enthusiasm and accuracy in their moves cause some nerves, surprising to the people watching. They carry tons of confidence in their movements, making it so difficult for people to understand that they also get nervous.

“It’s just terrifying and nervous, but when your team gets out there, you just know you’re going to hit it,” Sydney Buonacorsi, a junior cheerleader on the varsity team, grins over the little fence at the football field.

However, what’s even more impressive is the progress of Cheerleading over the years.

From being a sport where the only message was to cheer on the football players, cheerleaders now embody confidence as they lead the school in chants and cheers. 

When questioned about the spotlight only focusing on football players, Mendoza shrugged her shoulders indifferently and commented, “I feel like that has changed. Last year, I felt like the crowd loved the footballers, but this year, participation is going on so much in the student section. They’re calling out the cheers with us, which is awesome.”

For the past few decades, the most basic question has been: Is the football team getting more attention than the cheerleaders? And now the answer has arrived. Attention is slowly starting to shift over to cheerleaders, not just on the football players. If cheerleaders themselves are recognizing this, it must be a big step for them in their hearts and minds.

2024-2025 is a school year that changes everything for them, demonstrating that even more steps have been taken. This is because it’s the first year that cheerleaders are going to Florida for a cheer competition, competing for our school. This is staggering because they are now getting the relevance they’ve always deserved. So, this year, when they go, students should decorate the school with posters, colors, and anything to boost the cheerleaders up before they go to perform! 

This year, the cheerleaders are also having a competition in Anaheim, which is about an hour away from here. It’s their first time participating in this many competitions, and they would greatly appreciate the support if anybody could make time to come to it.

Just to accurately portray how far cheerleading, and cheerleaders have come as a sport, let’s dive into some history. The first cheerleader, Johnny Campbell, burst out into a cheer in the stands in 1898. Even though the sport was originally very male-dominated, women began to join the squads in the 1920s and 1930s, marking the beginning of a new era.

It took off when the men left for WWII. In 1972, the Title IX civil rights law was passed that stated, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." This was when competitive cheerleading took off.

Cheerleading became a sport that was incorporated into almost every school. It wasn’t considered a sport, rather a little dance session that wasn’t taken very seriously. It took a few more years for cheerleading to be a national sport—about 20 years, truth be told—in the late 1990s.

Finally, cheerleading is recognized as a sport with many challenging aspects, such as gymnastics, stunts, and dancing. 

And our cheerleaders seemed pretty happy with how far they’ve come. Especially at this year’s Homecoming Game on October 4. Enthusiastic as ever, they waved their pom poms and thrusted their speakerphones into the air. They all showcased their talent and an incredible routine that dazzled the crowd.

So, the next time you think about whether to go to a football game, trust me, go to it. If not for football, go for the cheerleading team to support them and ensure they feel like they’re being cheered on, too.