Morristown High Cheerleader Squad Aims to Give Everyone Something to Cheer About

The Morristown High School cheerleader squad is ready to give everyone something to cheer about.

On a recent warm morning, a group of girls performed somersaults, handstands and numerous daredevil stunts on the football field at Morristown High School. Dressed in black shorts and pink and black T-shirts, the girls sweated and moved in rhythmic motion together. Not even a few sprinkles of rain stopped them from their routine.

All of this repetitious action took place under the direction of a young woman who did not look much older than the girls under her guidance. 

First-year head cheerleading coach Christina Chase, MHS class of 2005, has been a social studies teacher at Morristown High School since 2009. She was captain of the cheerleading squad during her own tenure at the high school as a student. She continued cheering in college at the University of Scranton and in total has 15 years of cheering under her belt.

Olivia Delspina and Shatasia Knight, staff members of the Universal Cheer Association, stressed the importance of a properly-trained instructor to the cheerleading squad.  Studies have shown that cheerleading is the leading cause of injuries among young female athletes. Hospitals saw more than 200,000 injuries tied to cheerleading, with damage occurring to the legs, ankles or feet. Regardless of the dangers, girls and some boys continue to join cheerleader squads. Some researchers and critiques stress that more training should be involved for those who coach cheer leaders.

"UCA Instructors are AACCA [The American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators] safety certified and we always practice safety when we work with the athletes," Knight said. The choreographers put the girls through the paces as Chase watched.

Chase said she makes the team run a mile before every practice, and if someone is late, that person must run two miles. After the run the team stretches together to prevent injuries. The girls then go through two hours of  tumbling, jumps and balancing routines and at the end do pushups and crunches.

"We practice five days a week and then perform on the sixth day at a event," she said. "So it is six days of cheerleading."

Chase said she would like the girls to be able to compete in some cheerleader competitions this school season, which the squad has not done since 2004. She will be assisted by junior varsity coach Tina Camisa in training the girls.

When asked about the recent court decision that said cheerleading is not a sport that colleges can use to meet gender-equity requirements, Chase said she hopes cheerleading would be formally recognized as a sport in the future. In fact, she hopes to see it in the Olympics one day.