By Alexis Dalton
With Homecoming 2023 in the rearview, it’s safe to say that the week of festivities once again affirmed its big-deal status here at Lovett. We dressed up in pajamas and country-club outfits. We bounced around on inflatables at the Street Dance. And we of course watched the football game on Friday night.
But some of the hardest, and highest flying, workers that week are the cheerleaders, especially those on varsity.
The girls’ practices got a lot busier leading up to the big day. Senior and Co-Captain Margaret French explained that they had to really focus on their homecoming pep rally show as opposed to having open practices. “It’s a really big performance for us and it’s kind of our last big thing,” Margaret explained. Though they performed at Senior Night, Margaret said that homecoming was “the one they want to leave a mark with.”
According to senior Ava Aleman, they’d been “preparing for months.” She said the captains had been “working really hard.” Ava noted how the process was pretty stressful due to constant changes, teammates being sick, and injuries. “Now we’re doing more advanced [stunts],” Ava explained. “People get injured and we have to rearrange stunt groups and relearn everything from the beginning.”
Varsity cheer also works with the junior varsity and freshman teams, who are “all varsity level” according to Ava. “They have really high-level athletes.”
As one of the captains, Margaret describes herself as one of the “voices of the team.” The captains choreograph many dances and solidify stunts (with the help of their stunt coach, Taylor). “We are positive leaders.” Margaret proudly said. They make sure that the team has a student voice and not just that of a coach. The other captains of Varsity Cheer are Virginia Evans, Anna Jaje, and Sarah Britton Gibbons.
Together for homecoming, the captains collaborated to come up with the big performance. “We all get a piece of our ideas in the dance,” Margaret explained. However, for the iconic Senior vs. Junior Dance Battle, all of the seniors helped choreograph their portion of the “battle.”
Because Homecoming is an annual event and has been for a very long time, it can be difficult for the cheerleaders to make their show different from previous years. Margaret noted that the homecoming performance last year was amazing, so they had to focus on what they didn’t do last year in order to make this year’s show stand out. Therefore, this year, they introduced “more dimension” and used Taylor Swift’s song Ready for It for their intro which is different from the song used in the past two years.
Of course, the girls do a lot off the dance floor, too. Margaret told me how they had to coordinate things ‘spirit-wise” such as which uniform to wear, making multiple, giant banners, and baking sweet treats for the senior football players. “We spent like two hours baking rice crispy treats and brownies,” Margaret said.
“It’s really weird” being a senior in this process for Margaret. “In the past, I just had to show up to practice and do my best,” she explained. “But now I show up having planned the practice.” Margaret is also in the SGA Cabinet, so she was planning homecoming festivities separately from her cheerleading duties.
Nonetheless, Ava explained that being a senior is also “really fun.” She likes that she’s able to set an example for the younger girls. Being a senior in the program has also allowed to make friends with people she never would have if not for their common experience. “I’m friends with a bunch of the freshmen now because of cheer,” Ava said. She’s also gotten closer to girls she’s known for years. “We’ve been through everything together for so long and we’re all having a really good time,” she said.
Come Friday of homecoming, the girls were on campus at 6:15 in the morning to finish final preparations. From a viewer’s perspective, the cheerleaders’ pep rally show was astounding. All of the hard work Margaret and Ava described showed itself. Maybe I’m easily impressed (as someone who can barely touch their toes), but, judging from the crowd’s continuous applause, the girl’s stunts, tumbling, and choreography exceeded everyone’s expectations.
Obviously, I thought the show was excellent, but I asked junior Lane Caldwell, a member of the Varsity cheer team, how she thought it went. “I think it was really good… no one fell,” Lane said, laughing. She added more earnestly, “I’m really proud of the team.”
