It’s a huge year for the Cathedral Catholic cheer team, as they stay busy with a new coach, attend countless sporting events, and train for their multiple competitions later this year.

The cheer team is always prepared for football games in the fall and basketball in the winter; however, they are highly underestimated for the the amount of hard work and dedication that they put into perfectly nailing their routines. Each routine is carefully crafted by their two off campus coaches, Mr. Keith Lewis and Ms. Kristen Harkey, and then perfected with the help of captain, senior Aaron Anders, and co-captains, senior Kendall Reardon, and junior Brianna Rotherham.

Each captain has a specific role in the management of the team. Captain, Aaron Anders said, “My goal is to motivate, unify, and inspire our squad to support our sports teams on campus as well as represent Cathedral to the best of our abilities during our competition season.”

Aaron has been on varsity cheer since her freshman year, and now, as captain, she hopes that she will be able to impact the lives of the younger girls on the team, just as the older leaders did for her during her first three years on the cheer team.

Kendall Reardon, senior co-captain, defines her position on the team as similar to an “assistant coach.” She is there to assist Aaron in warming up the girls, keeping them on task at practices, and calling out the cheers at all the sporting events. She is most excited for the girls to bond this year and show the school just how talented the cheer team is.

Junior co-captain Brianna Rotherham explained her role as the one who organizes all the team bonding events outside of practice, games, and competitions. These events include getting together to make posters, going to morning prayer on Fridays, going to a pumpkin patch together in the Fall, ice skating in the Winter, and doing community service as a team – and maybe even including the Dance Team.

The captains and their team meet every Monday from 1:30- 4:00 pm, Tuesday morning from 6:00- 7:45 am, and Wednesday afternoons from 3:00- 5:30 pm. In addition to their heavy practice schedule, they practice before every sporting event that they are performing at in order to make sure all the routines are spot on.

“A normal varsity practice consists of a team prayer, warm-up laps and stretching, mastering basic and complex stunts/tumbling, and utilization of these skills to master new routines for competition, games and halftimes,” said co-captain Kendall Reardon.

This year also brings new off-campus coach Keith Lewis. Assistant coach Kristen Harkey is in her second year.

Ms. Harkey has been coaching cheer for four-to-five years but has been an active member of the cheer community since she was ten years old. While attending Scripps Ranch High School, she was on the Varsity cheer squad; however, she did not continue with cheer into her college years.

The head varsity cheer coach Keith Lewis, is no stranger to the cheer community either, as he is known all over San Diego and Los Angeles counties for his cheer company, Fallout. Ms. Harkey said that it’s a new and excited experience for both the girls and her to have Mr. Lewis as their new varsity coach.

Since the coaches are not always available to the girls and CCHS community during school hours, Ms. Alison Purpera, Cathedral religion teacher, has taken on the role as the cheer team moderator. She describes her position as the person who takes care of all the team’s “business affairs”, including ordering uniforms, collecting money, communicating with the parents, making sure the cheer team is representing Cathedral Catholic, and creating the girls’ schedules.

According to Ms. Purpera, besides the cheer team’s hectic schedules during football and basketball season, the girls are also preparing for three to four competitions this year, their biggest one taking place in the late spring.

Aaron Anders hopes that the team will be able to compete at a national division this year, following their performances last year in the regional level. She is confident in the team and the team’s leadership.

” We hope to use our leadership to have the best season we can in 2014,” she said.