SPIRIT: Poly Cheer & Song members give their perspective of Friday Night Football games.
By Natalie Apostol, Staff Writer
With the fall season comes the annual football season for Poly High School. Football players and fans nervously anticipate the packed stadiums, painted faces and exciting games. Yet, many tend to overlook Poly Cheer & Song leaders who provide a unique perspective on the game.
Poly’s Cheer & Song program consists of cheerleaders who perform acrobatic maneuvers like tumbling, as well as “songleaders” who perform various dance techniques in addition to cheering at games. The varsity cheer and songleaders form one unit for football games, keeping the energy up at each game.
The crowd may see the lines of girls standing on top of boxes, classic green and orange pom-poms and perhaps a plethora of sparkles. Yet the fans do not experience the football game in the way the cheerleader or songleader does. They feel the same excitement as a spectator, but must also lead the crowd and set the tempo of the cheers.
Songleader, Chandler Reed (10) gushes, “I feel a rush of excitement and nerves as the boys take on the field and I love pumping up the crowd. It’s an amazing feeling to see the large student section we have cheering the boys on, and to see the entire game up close. It’s definitely a passion of mine.” Fellow varsity member, McKenna Diaz (11) agrees, “Cheering for the Bears is a great experience. I love seeing the crowd and the football players from my point of view and it’s an opportunity I’m very grateful for.”
Not only do the leaders enjoy the animation of the crowd and their fellow teammates, but they also celebrate the players’ accomplishments. Zanith Gabriel’s (10) favorite moment of a football game is “celebrating when Poly takes the win because they train hard to achieve their goal each week and it’s an amazing thing to witness.” Kailey Waring (12) agrees stating, “It’s great to see the boys play with passion and come out successful.”
Although Poly Cheer & Song is not the main star of the event, they play a major role in keeping the Poly spirit alive every Friday night.