On Mar 19, 2021 the Carlsbad High School JV cheer team cheered for their first football game of the season. Both the football and cheer team got the chance to show off what they’ve been working on all season. Sophomore JV cheer co-captain Breanna Masters talked about what it was like to be able to cheer at games again.

“I was really excited to finally be able to do that again,” Masters said. “Football season is my favorite in comparison to basketball, so it was really exciting.”

The JV cheer team originally started online zoom practices back in April of 2020. These online practices consisted of learning cheers, dances, stretching and jumps. Freshman team member Haylie Bonner has been a part of the JV cheer team since the beginning, and she talked about what online practices felt like.

“The online practices were really hard,” Bonner said. “Just trying to continue to be motivated, because we weren’t really doing much, other than stretching and cheers.”

Online practices lasted until October of 2020, which was when in-person practices began. When in-person practices first started there were two cohorts that each had half of the team. Eventually, these two cohorts got to combine at the end of December and they started practicing as a team.

“I was really happy about it,” Masters said. “When you’re on zoom and you’re trying to learn choreography it can get super difficult because your video is mirrored. Having in-person practices is just beneficial for the team and it’s really exciting to get to see everybody.”

After the full team in-person practices began, games were scheduled, and the team finally got to stunt two practices before their first game. Due to COVID-19 this cheer season only consists of five football games, which were on Mar 19, 26, Apr 2, 17 and Apr 9.

“I think it’s good for the team to finally be able to cheer at the games,” Bonner said. “It’s our opportunity to showcase what we’ve been working on, and it’s good for us to be able to hype up the crown and football team. As far as the team finally being able to stunt, I think it’s really amazing for the team because it’s such a huge part of our program.”

The cheer team’s first game was what they had been waiting for. They got to showcase what they’ve been working on and express their enthusiasm to the crowd and football team. Freshman team member Keeva Hand talked about how excited she was to finally be able to cheer on her team.

“I’m really excited,” Hand said. “I like that Carlsbad High School cheer is able to perform at football games now that COVID is getting better.”