by Caroline Polen

Bellbrook High School has two competition cheerleading squads, a traditional team and a game day team.

The traditional team performs two dances and one cheer. They start with their first dance then they do their cheer. During their cheer, they try to get the crowd excited and involved. Then, after their cheer, they do their second dance to end their routine on a high note. Throughout this routine, there are various jumping and tumbling passes.

The Bellbrook High School cheerleading program welcomed the game day competition team during the 2023–24 school year. The game day performance includes two dances, one chant, and one cheer. The routine begins with a band dance then it transitions into a chant, followed by a cheer. It concludes with the Bellbrook Fight Song. During this routine, there are various stunts, jumps, and tumbling passes. The whole time the team is performing, they are trying to keep the crowd entertained, involved, and excited. 

The teams had their first competition at Eaton. The traditional team placed second and the game day team placed first.

“We started strong, but have been recovering from some injuries,” head coach Debi Schweiterman said. “Injuries are always going to be a problem since we don’t have extra girls to fill in for those who are out. Even if we had alternates, they would have to learn a lot in a short period of time and it’s not always doable.

Missing just one or two girls can really impact the team, especially if we are close to a competition date. We are in the process of making some major adjustments for two injured athletes,” Schweiterman said.

The squad is young this year. The traditional team has no seniors, three juniors, eight sophomores, and one freshman. “My favorite part of being on the traditional team is my teammates,” junior Kalynn Schaaf said. “All of these girls make up our team with great personalities and they make traditional fun despite the challenges we’ve faced so far.

Since the season has started, we have had two girls hurt their fingers, two different girls diagnosed with concussions, one of which sprained her neck as well, one teammate pulled a hamstring, and another with a back injury which has restricted all of them from their full capabilities. This amount of injuries forced us to drop out of a competition,” Schaaf said.  

Despite facing all of this adversity, the teams have kept a positive attitude. “At practices, we have been very open to new changes in the routine and how we have had to fix things,” Schaaf said. “When our injured teammates come to practice, we make sure to accommodate them, and just seeing them increases our moods.”

Both teams are now preparing for their next competition which will take place at Miamisburg on November 3.