Cheers and screams fill the air as the Eisenhower Varsity cheer team takes the mat and begin their season. 

 “I’m excited to finally be back with a new team and new teammates,” junior Abby Rossow said. “Just being out there on the mat and performing with your team is such a good feeling.” 

After the sideline season, athletes have two weeks to prepare for competition season, which starts Nov. 12. Sideline season focuses more on cheering with minimal stunts and tumbling at football games while competitive cheer has specific stunts and routines that are meant to be performed and executed at a high level. 

“The team gets a lot closer during the competitive season, between practices and competitions we go through a lot more together,” Rossow said. 

Compared to the sideline season, practices for the new competition team will become increasingly more difficult and intense. Every athlete is focused on qualifying for the state championship competition at the end of the season. 

“It’s probably going to be the hardest season yet, we have a whole new set of coaches and so many seniors leaving, I think it’s gonna be more of a challenge,” senior captain Abby Lee said. 

For the new season, the program is focusing on building a strong team in hopes of ranking at competitions. After not competing last year due to the pandemic, the varsity cheer team wants to start their season out on top. 

“Team-wise we have to rebuild the program,” Lee said, “We really need to show that even though we missed a whole year of competing we’re ready to be back.”