By Matt Browning
Valley Center cheer coach Kira Eddy-Ortiz thinks an effective cheer squad benefits the entire atmosphere of a high school sporting event.
From the fans to the student section to even the players, the cheerleader’s leadership is vital.
“They provide leadership to the crowd for cheering on a team while competing,” Eddy-Ortiz said. “When you think about it, an effective cheer team helps to control the atmosphere of game day, with the goal of making it energetic, positive and encouraging. This is helpful for players to hear, because it lets them know that they have a big group of people that believe in them.”
The Hornets cheer season actually starts in March, right after spring break, when tryouts start. But there is a big event each month, except July, that leads right into football season in September.
“Once August hits we practice every day of the week,” Eddy-Ortiz said. “We travel to all of the elementary schools and the middle school for their back-to-school events. We bring Hector the Hornet with us and everyone loves it! September through November we are in full swing for football. We practice every day there isn’t a football game, because we are progressing our game day presence, stunts, and also preparing for competitions of our own.”
Not only does the Valley Center cheer team perform at games, but they are also involved in the community.
“Sprinkled into the fall and winter seasons, we try to do some service for our community,” Eddy-Ortiz said. “We have done a school supplies drive in the fall and adopted families for Hornet Holidays in the winter, where we get to have fun shopping for Christmas gifts for local families.”
The seniors on Valley Center’s team are Marlene Appel, Riley Bartlett, Addison Ellinger, Eloise Hunter, Addie Koehn, Neosomi Rowsey and Hailey Russell.
