Because IHSA has opened up sports in January, the GCHS cheer team has had more in-person practices and will possibly be cheering at games. Coach Kelsey Adams said they started practice in winter.  “Since we’ve gotten the ‘Okay’, all of our practices have been in person,“ Adams said.  

The varsity cheer team impressively got third place overall in their most recent conference competition. Both Coach Stacy Custodio and Coach Adams are very proud of their athletes, as they have worked very hard to get where they are today. When asked how the conference went, Adams states,  “We recorded our conference routine one week ago, and have already made so many improvements since. We knew we had some major timing issues that really held us back.” According to Adams, the athletes are proud of their progress and eager to continue to work hard for their next competition

Coming up next for the team will be sectionals. Adams said,  “We are currently preparing for our sectional recording, which is [March 3rd]. The team needs to place top five at the competition, which streams Saturday. This is a big contest for us as we have won the sectional championship for the past three years (2018, 2019 & 2020). Our goal is to get the opportunity at the state championship.” If the team qualifies for the state series, they will train and record for said state series. The top 25 teams in the state will qualify for the state championship, live-streamed on Friday, March 12.

After the competitive season comes to an end, they will begin preparation for cheering along the sidelines at football games.

According to Custodio, the team has practice two to three times a week. “So we’ve been really fortunate that [the athletics office] has been doing a great job of structuring practices for all sports with…new restrictions on gym space,” Custodio said, “But I would say the week after the state gave the green light to get started, the athletic department and the district had started some sort of structure for practice. So we were able to get started pretty quickly, and we’ve been pretty consistent at two to three days a week.”

During the summer, the coaches would send in four to five workouts a week and have one team meeting to discuss their progress. Both the athletes and the coaches agreed this was most beneficial to their training. The cheer team has taken advantage of being in-person and recently recorded their first competition. “That was…very different because we are in our own gym without any fans versus traveling to another school and performing in front of other parents, but we’ll continue in person for our season,” said Custodio.

This season, the team will not be traveling to any competitions, due to COVID, but they have come up with an alternative. “We record our competition routine to be submitted for judging…We encourage our athletes’ families…to tune in, so…it’s almost like they’re watching their athletes compete at a real competition,” said Adams.