The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Hip hip hooray
Cheer program creates good ‘outlet’ for children
For parents looking for a fun, non-school affiliated activity for their children, one choice is Amherst Youth Cheer.
“Our program offers cheerleading for children from grades kindergarten to sixth,” said Jen Williamson, the vice president of the program. “We break it down into three age groups; kindergarten to second grade is the ‘minis,’ third to fourth grade is the JV group and the fifth and sixth graders are our varsity.”
Williamson said she and the president of the program, Regan Carpenter, have over eight years experience in the cheer program.
“It is something we have been a part of for a long time,” she said. “This is a combination of coaching and director experience. We’ve been doing this for a while now, but we have a passion for it and want to make sure it’s done right.
“Our kids are older than the program ages now, but we continue to have a vested interest in it,” she added. “It’s a situation where we would hate to not run the program and see it end. The young kids of the community need the outlet that cheering provides, so we want to see it continue but also make sure it’s ran properly.”
Williamson said the program is a quality outlet for young children.
“There aren’t too many programs for kids in Amherst,” The cheer program varsity group, jump up to touch their toes.
she said. “There are some sports teams available but little alternative options. Cheering is the great program that still keeps you active and works in concert with sports. Kids are still very limited, but that’s why we continue to make sure the program keeps going. It teaches quality team
building and how to work within a group. These are valuable lessons that these kids need to learn, and I’m glad we are able to provide the outlet that teaches these skills.”
Carpenter said the cheer program is experiencing its first year apart from the football program.
“In years past, we shared money with the football teams,” she said. “That created its own slew of problems, as you can imagine. We are separate now, and it makes it easier to take the money and put it back into the program. All the money goes back to the kids. We, along with all the coaches, are volunteers. Any left over money goes to something for the cheerleaders.”
Carpenter said the program is gaining in popularity.
“We had the largest signup this year at 75 cheerleaders,” she said. “We usually average around 60 to 65 kids, so it’s really great to see the interest. The only downside is the lack of coaches. It’s very difficult running the entire program and also coaching a team. The parents that did end up volunteering their time are doing a great job. It’s just a matter of balancing the time of getting the uniforms, coordinating the schedule and various other things. It takes up a lot of time, so we appreciate anyone who can donate their time to coach.”
Carpenter said the program prepares children to make cheer squads at the junior high level.
“We want to make sure the kids are ready for when they try out for the school team in the seventh grade,” she said. “We go through all the formations, dances, arm movements and everything they will be asked to do.
“We don’t have them tumble, because our insurance won’t cover it, but we do tell parents where they can learn to tumble properly,” she added. “We want to make sure they succeed when they move beyond our program to the next level. We make sure these kids work and get the most out of it. They then take what they have learned and apply when they cheerlead for the football team of the same age group. We also have the option for the kids to carry over to when we do basketball.
“It is something they are going to really want to do, but it is a very awarding program if they stick with it.”