By Caroline Cope

The 2025 powderpuff cheerleaders have practiced for hours each week in preparation for their sideline chants, jumps, tumbling, stunts, and for their highly-anticipated halftime dance performance.

The cheerleaders–the senior boys who signed up–were hard at work practicing in the BCI gym in the evenings under supervision of their senior cheerleader coaches Cali Harnish, Kalynn Shaaf, Erjuwan Alkhafaf, and Caroline Cope.

Harnish notes that the attention span of the rookie cheerleaders was the most difficult part of practicing and teaching choreography.

“It hasn’t been very hard, because I already coach the second grade Wee [Eagles Cheer] team,” Harnish said. “I feel like it’s a lot like the second graders, where you have to teach them very slowly, and you can’t expect them to know anything.”

Although it was hard to get the boys on track to learn new material, Harnish was surprised with their work ethic.

“I did not expect them to be willing to do much…but they’re actually learning things and wanting to learn things, and they’re even practicing outside of our practices,” Harnish said.

Josiah Hamilton, one of the many dedicated cheerleaders, did not expect the cheer material to be simple. “[Cheerleading is] surprisingly easier than I thought it was going to be.”

Although the rookie cheerleaders would’ve liked to wear matching cheer uniform tops and skirts on Wednesday, there was a lack of old uniforms to distribute.

“They’re wearing some of the old cheer uniforms, but some of them are wearing a mix of a skirt and a tank-top, or some of the cheerleading tops and black shorts,” Harnish said.

Tyler Duffy, another powderpuff cheerleader, was thrilled to wear a uniform.

“[Wearing a uniform is] honestly the part I’m most excited about. I want to show my figure. I’ve been working hard on it,” Duffy said.

Duffy worked hard in and out of practices to prepare for the halftime dance performance, which was a compilation of different songs. Before the performance, he said that he was not at all nervous. Along with motions, jumps, and tumbling, the performance also featured a kickline and human-bowling. 

“I think we got this down pat. I think we’re a great team, and I think the chemistry is there,” Duffy said.

If you didn’t watch the Powderpuff game on Wednesday, don’t worry: there may still be a chance to see the rookie male cheerleaders. Although not confirmed, the male cheerleading team–which is the biggest in BHS powderpuff history–may perform with the varsity football cheerleaders on senior night October 17 for one quarter of the game. The Powderpuff cheerleaders have been working long and hard on their cheerleading, and they are excited to share more of their moves with the Bellbrook community.