Friday, December 12

Boys Varsity Basketball Game v. Brooklyn Tech

The day before the game: 

As we cooled off from the junior varsity game that happened, which we won 77-42, the first thought was “We may have done good today, but we need to be great tomorrow.” Tomorrow is a varsity game, which means we need to be on our A-game. 

The day of the game: 

7:38 a.m.: I get dressed for the day. I wear black leggings with my cheer jacket. 

8:40-3:00.: I would just go through the day as regular. Some may ask me about the game but other than that, I focus on academics until it’s time to cheer.

3:00 p.m.: The bell rings. Time to get ready. I met up with the other cheerleaders and changed into my uniform. I have 15 minutes to get dressed, and fix my hair. We take the time to talk, catch up and talk about the game before it starts. You can walk into the cheer room and all you’ll see is a bunch of girls getting ready, practicing cheers, and doing their makeup. Everyone would be doing different things but we are all still in blue and white. 

3:15 p.m.:  Everyone goes to the cafeteria to start practice. When everybody gets into the cafe, that’s when we start  stretching. Becoming flexible is a big part of cheer. Learning how to do flips and tricks. If you come to the practice, you would most likely see me bust into a cartwheel at random. Or cheerleaders would be making new cheers, sitting down drinking water or even playing on their phone. This’ll happen until it’s time for everyone to gather up and start stretching

3:30 p.m.: After stretches you start going over cheers. As our coach loves to say, “the way you practice is the way you perform.” If you guys want us to look the best, we have to practice to get there. Our voices, the precision, the personality, these are all the things we need to be a good cheerleader. 

4:00 p.m.: Have you ever seen the infamous tunnel the cheerleaders create before the game starts? That needs practice. For the next 25 minutes we practice that tunnel by doing it in the cafeteria.

4:25 p.m.: This is when we have to go upstairs. Poms pomp in our hands and ready to cheer. We wait outside the door for the players to get ready for the tunnel. Then it starts. “SO BRING EM OUT COACH!”

Game Time!: Soon then the game starts. We watch the game closely to see when to call a cheer or move out the way when the ref is near. Cheers get called constantly and the game continues.

Half Time: We have reached the little break between after the first two quarters. We have 8 minutes to go to the bathroom, get water, or just hang in the gym.

3rd and 4th Quarter.: This is when the game gets serious, both teams are neck and neck. The stress of the game is getting to everyone. The school section is incredibly loud. Nobody knows what will happen next. All the cheerleaders are hyped and everyone’s voice hurts.

OVERTIME?!: WE WENT OVERTIME. Extra 4 minutes has been added to the scoreboard. The score before was 68-68. As cheerleaders, our jobs are to hype the team, and the crowd. Each free throw, every time we are on defense, all you hear is screaming and yelling. Soon then, 3 seconds on the clock.. 

WE WONNNN!!! 89-84

Everyone is overjoyed. So we do our annual Jaguars Pride. Walking out the gym after the game was like a boulder lifting off our shoulders. Then the next thing you hear is… JAGUARS! JAGUARS! JAGUARS!