Culver Cheer: A Growing Sport

By: Kali Loehmer

Cheerleading has been around since the late 1800’s and it has grown into a competitive sport with different team styles. The most common teams are sideline and competitive. 

Attendees at any Culver Community Middle/High School event before 2022 may have noticed that there wasn’t a cheer team larger than 10. But at the start of the 2023-24 school year, communications director Hanna Croy decided to step up to coach the cheer team with not very much background in cheer, but with the commitment to bring life back to the Culver Community cheer squad. 

“My motivation to make the cheer team successful is simple. My name is attached to this; we will not fail. I was prepared to get a push back about my rules and structure; but to be successful you have to be consistent, passionate, and hard working. I was not willing to be lenient in those areas,” said Coach Croy. “Starting with only 2 sophomores and some freshmen last year really helped with my expectations as we were all starting new together so there weren’t instilled habits that needed to change.”

While the cheer squad grew, the community started taking the cheerleaders more seriously. The cheerleaders did crowd involvement cheers and fun trendy dances which helped the parents and students participate more.

“From what I have seen, the cheer team overall seems to have gotten more coordinated and gained spirit in cheering,” said senior Daniel Laba.

Since Coach Croy has been coaching the cheerleaders, the cheerleaders have placed 3 times.They won 2nd place during the Triton competition, 1st place during the summer at the state fair, and 3rd at the Lake Central competition. In addition to this, they earned trophies at the competitions, trophies at the UCA (Universal Cheerleaders Association) camp this summer, and a plaque from camp.

“You can see how much work the girls have put into their practices, their stunts, their care for one another,” said CCMHS parent Jessica McCuen. “Winning some hardware over the summer really brought this group together to believe they can lead a crowd.”

For the cheerleaders, getting to a level of competition was a challenge. Since the team is mostly freshmen and sophomores, going into high school with a coach that was destined to succeed, took commitment. 

“Coming from a team that we have had to build up from nothing is hard,” said sophomore Ava Taylor. “There’s lots of people against you and a lot you need to learn. I love seeing when all of our hard work finally pays off.”

With Culver being such a small school, seeing the cheerleaders’ involvement in the community is easy. Having an involved team puts a spark in people’s eyes when they see the cheerleaders doing impressive things; and overall, it lifts up the spirits of athletic crowds.

“Being able to bring these opportunities to the cheerleaders and watching their skills grow and flourish has been so rewarding. Watching the faces of the athletes when they received that gold ribbon at camp or that 1st place trophy at the State Fair has made me so proud,” said Coach Croy. “Watching the faces of the cheerleaders when they hit a skill or stunt they have been working on for so long is something that I look forward to each day. Being a cheerleading coach for this team is what keeps me going.”