Polson, Ronan cheer teams ready to go

The Ronan cheer team is up and going with new leadership this year. Tawna Steele-Pule is in her first year with the team, but has been coaching cheer for a long time. Earlier this summer, the team held tryouts in front of seven judges from around the community. Afterward, a team of six was chosen.

This cheer team is going to be a little different than what people may think. After being reformed last year, the team is being stripped down to the basics. “We aren’t doing stunts. We are trying to get down to the basics and perfect those before getting into stunts. We have to have strength and endurance to master the smallest things before going big,” Coach Steele-Pule said.

The team is doing more than just cheering at games. “Cheerleading basically means encouragement,” the coach said, “we have to reprogram people to know what school spirit is.” The team has been making signs and recently started decorating the halls of the school in Ronan.

It’s not just the main sports that the cheer team will be helping out. “Every sport deserves to be cheered for. Everyone needs acknowledgement that they do exist.” That means sports like track will be acknowledged during a time when the cheer team isn’t actually in season.

The fall team has three returners, and Steele-Pule hopes to make the girls the foundation for a great team. She also said she thinks the winter team will be larger. Steele-Pule hopes to have the fall tryouts for next year in the spring, so that the team can go to camps during the summer.

The Polson cheer team has 13 girls and 3 boys out for the fall season. Among them are four seniors, and four new girls. Coach Alysha Valentine said the teams’ goals are to get the crowd more involved in games, and to get more people to come to the games. With the help of the boys on the team, you can count on some cool stunting.

Valentine, in her fifth year as coach, said that the team went to a four-day summer camp in Washington earlier this year. The group came home with a camp champ trophy and other awards. Also receiving awards at the camp were Dylan Noyes and Katie Hedeen, who were nominated as All-Americans and invited to cheer at the New Year’s Day parade in London.