As football season winds down and players prepare to pack their pads for the offseason, Seton Catholic cheerleaders put away their pom-poms as well, but with no offseason at all. This is their time to exchange the stadium lights and crowd performances for the competition cheer floor. 

“Cheer requires the most time and commitment out of all the sports because it is a year-long sport,” said Magda Mead, a senior on Seton Catholic’s cheer squad. 

While most sports at the school have a few months off to prepare for the next season, the cheerleading team works year-round to support the entire athletic program in addition to their own competition season. Meghan Pruett, in her first year of head coaching at Seton Catholic, says her girls are expected to prepare for both types of cheer simultaneously throughout the school year. 

“The tricky part that I think people don't fully grasp is that cheer is really a year-round sport,” said Pruett. “We have to do both at the same time… the only season that we're off is summer, but they are practicing for both sideline and competition.” 

Seton Catholic offers its student body a wide variety of sports including football, flag football, basketball, soccer, baseball and tennis. If any of these sports make it to the playoffs, Pruett’s squad is expected to be on the sidelines cheering them on, while also attending home games during the regular season. 

“We're expected to go to all of these games while simultaneously getting ready for competition,” said Pruett. “They all blend together because it's at the exact same time as what we do on the sidelines.”

Every week, no matter the weather, Seton Catholic cheer is expected to cake their faces, tie their ponytails high, lace up their cheer shoes and waltz out with pom-poms in hand to rally the crowd in favor of the Sentinels. However, when the roles are reversed and their turn to compete comes, the stands lack the same cheering they lead for every game. 

Chloe Schein, a senior member of Seton Catholic cheer, often longs for a glimpse of the support they provide for other sports.

“Most people at our school do not come to events. Usually it is just friends and family, which sometimes feels sad, but at the same time I feel like a lot of people don’t really know what we go into.”

While cheering on their fellow athletes is not optional for Seton Catholic’s cheerleaders, it remains an option for those same athletes to show up to cheer competitions. Coach Pruett feels that her team would benefit from the support of other athletes if their coaches made attending cheer competitions a requirement. 

“I hope that those teams would start making a better effort and realize the work that we put in. I think it's gonna start with the coaches respecting it and realizing that we cheer on their boys and we cheer on their girls, so they should come and cheer us on,” said Pruett. 

Pruett also recognizes the size of the school may impact the lack of turnout at cheer competitions. Prior to Seton Catholic, which competes in Division IV, she coached at Division I schools with larger populations. 

“I don't know if it's just because it's a small school and the expectations are a little bit lower, but I don't think a lot of the kids, let alone the coaches there, realize what we do as cheerleaders. I think they honestly think that we're at practice, just taking pom-poms and practicing our cheers the whole time. The girls don't even do that. They do that at home to practice for sideline.”

Competition cheer requires much more time and commitment than sideline cheer. While perfecting competition routines takes up the entire duration of practice, sideline cheers are learned on their own time at home. 

“We are practicing 12 hours a week and put in lots of effort to perfect skills and do our best at competitions,” said Gabbi Gianetta, another senior cheering for Seton Catholic.

These practices vary in length and intensity depending on if the team is focusing on their competition routine, or a quick game day practice to concentrate on their sideline cheer motions.

“When we are having a very stunt-heavy practice for traditional competition, it can be very intense on our bodies. Game day practices are very motion-heavy and take lots of concentration to hit motions clean and remember everything we do,” said Gianetta. 

Not only is balancing sideline and competition cheer time consuming for the girls, but juggling the two can also be physically taxing. USA Cheer reports that cheerleading is the fourth leading cause of sports injuries among young female athletes. 

Emergency rooms across the United States saw 22,313 cheerleading injuries, all females aged 12-18. Throughout her eight-year coaching career, Pruett has seen her athletes suffer from tearing their ACLs, concussions and ankle sprains and fractures. 

Cheer ranked No. 2 in sports causing concussions for high school athletes according to the same study. 

Mead, Gianetta, Schein and Pruett all agreed that displaying their hard work during competitions is their favorite aspect of the sport. Standing under the bright lights as the music stops and they walk off the mat, Gianetta feels the pride bouncing off her teammates after giving their all to a sport they love.

“Getting recognition from cheer being its own sport and showing everyone how hard we work and what we can do is very rewarding.”