The 2021-2022 winter cheer team has been chosen. The team will be active at boy’s basketball games with the possibility to cheer at wrestling matches and girl’s basketball games.

According to head coach Kaitlyn Rowand, the tryouts resulted in “two teams of 27 girls total who will be cheering for our junior varsity and varsity teams.” 

The students practice four hours a week, including conditioning; the girls are preparing for the first home game on Dec. 14. Freshman Chelsey Zuno-Bellot states, “We run half a mile, do stretches, then learn different chants and practice them. We also do stunts and practice them as well.” 

The team is preparing for a season full of stunts and cheers. Rowand says, “We are working on building some individual group skills to perform during timeouts as well as some pyramids for one-minute timeouts or before the game starts.” 

In the coming weeks, the students will be seen performing at the games on Dec. 21 and 23, as well as Jan. 4, 7, 10, 14, 18, 19, 21, 25, and Feb. 1. Rowand explains the overall goal of the team is to “advance our current skill throughout the season and work with our student section to boost school spirit and attendance at games.” 

Like many girls on the team, Zuno-Bellot sees cheer as something she would like to continue throughout her high school career. She looks forward to “memorizing all the cheer chants by the end of the season.” The Dover Eagle sidelines will once again be filled with the chants of cheerleaders and the roar of the crowd. If you happen to visit a home basketball game, you are guaranteed to hear them chant, “Put that ball through the hoop… hoop, dribble… dribble, pass… pass, shoot…shoot.”