By ZOE RICKS
The crowd gets louder as the Penn High School cheerleaders run onto the sidelines during a Friday night football game. As the team counts down for a stunt, one athlete is quickly lifted into the air above everyone else.
For Penn cheer flyer Maddie Honaker, moments like this are exciting, but they also take a lot of trust and hard work.
A junior at Penn High School, Maddie has been cheering for several years. What started as something new to try quickly turned into something she really enjoys being a part of.
“I originally started cheer because I thought it would be fun, but I didn’t realize how much effort and practice actually goes into it,” Honaker said.
Being a flyer means taking on one of the most challenging roles on the team. Flyers are lifted and thrown into stunts while depending completely on their teammates to catch and support them. Even though it may look easy from the stands, it takes confidence and focus every time they perform.
“The hardest part about being a flyer is trusting the people underneath you,” Honaker said. “You can’t really hesitate because everyone is counting on you to do your part.”
Practices after school can be long as the team works on perfecting their stunts and routines before games. Communication and teamwork are important, since one mistake can affect the whole group. Even when practices are tough, the team’s support for each other keeps everyone
motivated.
For Honaker, some of the best moments happen during games when everything finally comes together.
“My favorite part is when we hit a stunt perfectly and you hear everyone cheering,” she said. “It makes all the hard practices worth it.”
Balancing cheerleading with schoolwork can sometimes be difficult, but she says the experience has helped her become more confident and better at managing her time. Cheerleading has also helped her build strong friendships with her teammates. Many people don’t realize how much athletic ability cheerleading actually takes, especially for flyers who spend much of their time in the air.
Behind every stunt is hours of practice and trust between teammates. As another game begins under the Friday night lights, Maddie gets ready with her team on the sidelines. With her teammates supporting her below and the crowd watching, every stunt shows the hard work and teamwork that helps lift her, both on and off the field.
