Photo Credit: Hammond Cheer

By Alan Farfan

Staff Writer

Hammond Varsity cheerleading team is getting their poms ready for another exciting season, with both their football games and competitions looking very promising. This year, the team has welcomed several new members who bring a fresh new wave of talent and skill. They are currently dialed in on their home football game cheers, but they have begun to focus more on their competitions coming up, with the first one being on October 15. Their training sessions have paid off heavily with making sure everything is clean and safe to move onto more difficult skills. When asked about the drills being completed at practice, Coach Tara said, “We continue to drill, work from the basics, continue to make sure that we’re making progressions to safely obtain new  and more difficult skills and make sure that we’re perfecting skills before we move on to the next skill.”

The addition of new talent has significantly boosted the team’s overall performance and confidence. Junior cheerleader Sarah said “I think we’re looking pretty good, we have a lot  of tumblers this year so I’m very excited.” This varsity team this year seems very close and comfortable as one of the players stated “Practice is a very nice and comfortable environment. We get to know each other, talk to each other and uplift one another. We work so hard to get lifts and stunts done and out the way.” All in all this team is very confident and ready for the competitions.

This year Coach Tara said her main goal is “to win counties and have a full sweep”. She is very excited about this team and its talents as she stated, “I think we’ll do very well especially with the new talents this year and I’m very excited to see how this year’s competitions play out.” She’s very proud of how her team carries themselves and how they keep the level of intensity high, with no limit in sight. “Varsity has been upping the skills and doing skills that even returning players haven’t done before. The rubric has gotten harder for competitions so we’re making sure we meet the rubric”. Cheerleading has been working hard and putting in work, let’s all support and hope the Hammond Golden bears cheerleading team have an amazing season.