Winter sports are in full swing now at the high school and excitement is stirring for this winter’s competitive cheer team.
The Varsity team is joined this year by the second-ever Junior Varsity (JV) competitive cheer team, both groups have new material they’ve been working on and are preparing for their goal of a state title.
Varsity head coach Nikki Vantimmeren has the girls fiercely training to be the best they can be. They’ve started conditioning more and working in the weight room to work on their strength.
“About 30 minutes of our practice is typically conditioning. a little bit of strength, working on drills in order to get their skills, and then the next two hours is rigorous going over the rounds,” Vantimmeren said. “They are grinding from the minute they come in here till the minute they leave.”
Varsity cheerleader freshman India Mcelheny is grateful for making the team despite her age and is looking forward to all the accomplishments that are on the road ahead.
“It [making the varsity team] felt good and exciting but also scary,” Mcelheny said. “I think we’re gonna make it to state.”
The Varsity team isn’t the only one ready to take it all, JV Coach Nyjah Brown-Watson, who’s coaching her first year at Northview, is already seeing growth within all the girls who spend countless hours practicing every week on her team.
“I’ve seen a tremendous amount of improvements in all categories. The girls have tumble every week,” Brown said. “We had a few that had never cheered before and these girls are thriving. They are pushing to reach their end goal.”
One of those goals is to score higher in every competition. Accomplishing these goals takes hard work.
“JV has been working four out of the five days a week and spending countless hours at home practicing,” Brown said.
Their hard work has been paying off, with amazing scores in every competition they’ve been in. For girls who may be new to competition cheer, this is a great opportunity for them. Freshman Isabelle Visser who’s been cheering for three years, agrees.
“For people who have never done cheer before and wanna try it, having a JV team is really good to help them gain experience,” Visser said.
JV also opens them up to the contrast between middle school and high school cheer.
“It’s been different than I expected it to be. It’s a lot more intense, and you have a lot to prepare for,” Visser said.
But there’s nothing the wildcats can’t do. Their hard work and determination pay off every time and on January 9th at the Caledonia invite, the Varsity girls took 1st place. The best thing the student body can do is amplify the support.
“The days that they have competitions, just saying ‘good luck at the competition tonight’ and when they [students] hear announcements about how the girls are hitting new high scores or taking first place, Every person that says or acknowledges that to them makes a huge impact for them. That is huge and they thrive just to offer them that environment and that atmosphere at home,” Vantimmeren said.
The girls’ next and last home competition is February 15th and they’re hoping to compete in a supportive atmosphere filled with school spirit.
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