“Up, Up, On Your Feet!”

The Osage City cheer squad can’t be beat

Article by Jake Butterfield

When attending an Osage City High School football game, you experience a number of different sights and sounds. You will hear players yelling at one another, the piercing trill of the referees’ whistles, and the cracking of the opposing team’s skulls. As you scan the crowd you see over-enthusiastic parents, rambunctious middle school kids running wild, and the pep band waiting for a pause in the game to allow them to blare their tunes. However, there is one important group of people that is often overlooked, but without them the high school football atmosphere just wouldn’t be the same.

That important group of people is the OCHS cheer squad. The cheerleaders have a very significant job to perform at the games. The cheer squad may often go unnoted, but during the game the girls are what keep the fans paying attention. “Our cheers keep people into the game. Whether the game is good or bad, we are doing cheers to root for the football boys,” says senior co-captain Maren Peterson.

The cheerleaders are generally the most enthusiastic people in the stadium.  Using their continuous smiles and peppy voices, they make it look easier than it actually is. From the simple, “Go! Big! Red!” to the more complex, “If you’re from Osage!” all their cheers take time and practice to memorize and perfect. The squad works very hard to make each of their cheers flawless.

When asked about the toughest part of being a cheerleader, freshman Molly Plinsky commented, “I still have a tough time remembering all of the cheers. It’s just so many words and motions, but it’s definitely getting easier!” Plinsky and the squad started all their hard work way back before school even started.

This summer the squad attended cheer camp at Butler Community College, where they learned new cheer upon new cheer to use throughout football and basketball seasons. Most importantly, the cheerleaders got the extra help they needed with their stunts. “We don’t have anyone to help us with our stunts during the year so we try to get as much help as we can during camp,” Peterson noted on the importance of cheer camp.

Once the school year starts the cheerleaders don’t have any time to relax. Although they only practice once a week, the squad is one of the busiest groups in the school. Their schedules consist of planning spirit weeks for Homecoming and Queen of Courts, planning pep rallies, making locker signs for everyone who is involved in activities at OCHS, making treats for all the teams, and most importantly, leading the crowd every Tuesday and Friday night to cheer on the Indian football and basketball teams.

The cheerleaders obviously put a lot into what they do and are a very important part of Osage City athletics. Without them, the high school environment wouldn’t be the same. Many fans would remain sitting for entire games, players would be more likely to give up without encouraging chants that take place during timeouts, and homecoming would be ten times more chaotic than it already is. So next time you’re at an Indian sporting event, don’t forget to take a minute to stand up, clap along, and yell with the enthusiastic, hard working cheerleaders.