by Danica Vermillion

Cheerleaders work hard to make the games more fun and upbeat. They keep the people excited and loud. They practice the perfect choreography and tricks that they can perform at halftime and all throughout the game.

In Bellbrook, the youngest cheerleading team is Wee Eagles which starts in kindergarten and goes through 6th grade. Participants have the option to cheer for football, basketball, competition, or all three.

Quinn Puchalski, Elsa Harnish, Lexi Harnish, and Ellie Hileman are on the Wee Eagles team. Ellie Hileman and Quinn Puchalski are both in the 5th grade and Lexi Harnish and Elsa Harnish are 6th graders. The girls have been cheering for about 6-8 years. All the girls agreed that some of  their favorite things about the cheer is that they get to hang out with their friends and go to competitions.

 “The new things make me both scared and excited,” Elsa said about moving on to the middle school cheer team. “I’m excited but I think it’s going to be different because of the new coaches and new cheers.”

 “I think middle school cheer will be a bit harder because of  the new things we will have to learn and my mom won’t be the coach,” Hileman said. “I’m excited to be with the older kids but at the same time it might be a little overwhelming.”

After the participants enter the 7th grade, they move up from Wee Eagles to Bellbrook Middle School cheer. The team consists of both 7th and 8th graders. Rylee Davis, Julianne Hildebrand, and Annaliese Albertini are on the BMS cheer team. They mentioned that their favorite part of the middle school cheer team is being able to hang out with friends and the new routines.

“I like the amount of responsibility. You have to learn things on your own,” Davis said. “It’s just different from the amount of people and the new coaches. I want the girls coming up to know that you don’t need to be nervous.” 

The final destination for the girls that cheer in Bellbrook is to be on the Bellbrook High School cheer team. The teams in the high school consist of basketball, football, and competition cheer. Both basketball and football cheerleading teams have both a junior varsity and varsity team.

Ella Kosins is a freshman at BHS where she currently cheers on the JV football cheer team. She has been cheering since kindergarten. “One of my favorite moments in cheer so far is getting to cheer with my sister and cousin who are both seniors,” Kosins said. “It’s definitely an experience getting to meet new people and cheer together.”

Ella’s cousin Emma Kosins is a senior varsity cheerleader for BHS. She has been cheering for 13 years. “One of my favorite memories from cheer was the UCA Camp in 2022. We went to Great Wolf Lodge in Mason and it was super fun! It was also our first year stunting so we learned a lot.”

“I want to be a personal assistant,” Emma said. “The leadership skills I have learned from doing cheer will be very helpful in this field. For any upcoming freshman or new cheerleaders: don’t worry about the little things and just enjoy the time you have! It goes by so fast.”