Lil' Pirates rah-rah-rah
Third graders Renee Boyce, Bridget Carvey and Julie Magoon take a break from cheer camp to “listen for a cheer” in their pom-poms. The girls performed at last Friday’s football game.
POLSON — The girls had the moves, cheers, chants and pom-poms down pat. They even ran out on the field during halftime of the Polson Pirates football game last Friday night and performed their little hearts out. But it wasn’t the normal Lady Pirate Cheer Squad out there, doing their best rah-rah-rah. Rather, more than 100 kindergarten through fourth graders culminated a weeklong Lil’ Pirate Cheer Camp with their half-time show, showing the older girls all they had learned.
“We do it every year,” senior cheerleader Sallie Sams said of the camp. “We teach the kids the cheers for the football game and they get to perform.”
The camp, which ran from Oct. 4 through 7 and capped off with the Friday night game, serves as a fundraiser for the cheer squad, coach Carol Jones said. She said the cheerleaders have led the camp for the last 10 years or so and average 100 participants each year.
“We’re very grateful for the town supporting the cheerleaders,” Jones said.
Money raised goes to new uniforms for the high school girls and to coaches’ salaries. Jane Mansfield, mother of cheer co-captain Madison, said each grade learns a different cheer to perform on the their big night.
“The kids get a T-shirt and then some fun things like bracelets and pom-poms every day,” she said. The kids get a chance to partake in a unique activity, Mansfield said, and get to hang out with some of the girls they look up to.
“The cheerleaders dress up in their uniforms and take pictures with the campers,” she said. “A lot of the kids think it’s really cool to be able to do.”