The sound of screaming little girls and the vision of “mini” cheerleaders performing stunts has and will forever be engraved in the minds of the campus cheerleaders over the past 22 years. Only this year it had a different ending because this was the last year with cheer coach Eunie McEntee.
Although cheer clinic has trained elementary girls for 22 years, McEntee still got excited and enjoyed every minute of it.
“I love when cheer clinic time comes around because the little girls are so cute,” McEntee said. “The best part is seeing them all grown up in high school as seniors and, knowing that at one time, they were the cute little kids on the field having so much fun.”
At half time all alumni cheer and their children met at the flagpole for an historic photo shoot commemorating 22 years of cheer with McEntee. Six former cheerleaders had their daughters in the cheer clinic this year.
Cheer will continue after McEntee’s departure under the leadership of coaches Katie Mendenhall (’93) and Stephanie Patterson (’00).
The clinic started on Sept. 9, and ended on Sept. 12 at the Farmersville football game, where the groups of cheerleaders showed the student body what they learned.
“Cheer clinic is an opportunity for the high school girls to influence younger girls through something they are interested in,” McEntee said.
The clinic was open to children between the of 1st and 6th grades. The children are broken up into groups with names like jellybeans, bows, hearts and stars. Every year has been a good turn out of about 60 kids.
The varsity cheerleaders will use the funds raised by the clinic to pay for their trip to a cheer competition later this year. However many of the high school cheerleaders enjoyed doing the clinic just to see the excitement on the kid’s faces.
“I loved to watch the little kids get so excited about their school,” Jenna Burford, ’05, said. “It was a fun way to interact with younger people and teach them fun things in the meantime.”
The mini cheerleaders enjoyed cheer no matter what age they were and some younger ones have high hopes for their future as cheerleaders.
“I loved cheer clinic; I think it was a fun thing to get into,” Alexandra Salazar, 5th grade, said. “I joined the clinic so when I am in high school; I can be on the cheer squad.”
All the cheerleaders performed during the pre game, first and second quarter and half time during the varsity game on Sept. 12.