Even the best of football and basketball seasons eventually come to an end. For the cheerleaders you are so accustomed to seeing at those games, that is not the case.
Besides the sideline/end line cheering for those sports, and besides the work that goes into pep rallies, a competitive cheer program, such as the one at Booneville High School, essentially requires a year-round commitment.
Therefore, for most it is a multiyear commitment.
At BHS there are two seniors – Iris Martin and Brooklyn Hardin – who will be completing that multiple year journey sometime this spring.
Like the aforementioned, and other sports, there is attrition along the way, due to injury, and or other interests.
“In the seventh grade there were like eight (cheerleaders),” Martin, who started cheering then, said.
One of those was not Hardin. She transferred in as an eighth grader as her family was impacted by COVID-19 and moved home from northwest Arkansas. Hardin then made the decision to try out for cheer as a freshman.
With the calendar turning to November, Martin, Hardin, and the rest of the Cheer Cats have turned their attention to the competitive season. Their second competition will be Saturday at Bank OZK Arena in Hot Springs.
“We’ll go every Saturday, competing against people that are in our classification and try our best to hit our routine and see where are scores are,” said Martin.
“It’s a two minute, and 30-second routine,” said Hardin. “I feel like that sounds so easy, but it’s not.”
“You wouldn’t think it was that hard but it is full body, cardio, lifting, and yelling at the same time. It puts a lot more strain on your body than you’d think,” adds Martin.
Precision is the goal. Even in that 150-second routine has no room for error in time. Not one second more, or less.
“It has to be timed perfectly,” said Hardin.
Saturday's competition will give the squad a little bit of a glimpse into the state competition, an annual Bank OZK Arena event.
“It will give us the feel of it, being in the arena, and about a month from now it will be the real thing,” said Hardin.
The 2025 competition routine, the girls say, is considerably more difficult than the one they put down with zero deductions last year.
“It’s 10 times more difficult,” said Martin.
“Basically, it’s a (Class) 5A routine, with our skill level,” said Hardin.
That obviously demands a rigorous practice schedule.
“We’re in the gym four out of five days,” said Hardin.
There is a seventh period practice daily, then extra practice on Wednesday night starting at about 7:40 p.m., for another two hours, or more.
Neither cheerleader is planning to cheer in college – both are planning to go to the University of Central Arkansas, and both are planning to major in psychology.
“I’ve been doing this since seventh grade, six years of my life, I think it’s time for me to be done,” said Martin. “My body hurts all the time and I’m too young to get used to that pain.”
“Iris was a bit of a rebel when she started cheering in seventh grade,” said cheer coach Rachael May. “She has grown into a wonderful teammate, leader, and cheerleader. I’m very proud she stuck it out and has allowed me to coach her for the last six years.”
Martin’s position is that of base and the wear and tear on her body has necessitated one operation already.
“It’s from tumbling and jumps. I did have surgery this past March on my shins because over time it broke them down, so I was competing on two broken bones basically all of last year,” said Martin, who insists she is not alone. “Every girl that is out there has some kind of injury, some kind of pain.”
Hardin is a flyer which means she is launched into the air with little to no control over the landing.
“Right now, my shins have been killing me,” said Hardin. “I have a mental block, kind of a fear of going backwards so the only way I could work my way up to being on mat was to do a front flip. It’s called a front punch. I literally roll into a front flip and then land. It causes a lot of pain.”
“Brooklyn is such a hard worker with a sweet heart. She would do just about anything for me and her teammates,” said May. “Her road as a cheerleader has been a hard fought one, but she has persevered and I’m proud of her.”
“Cheer is such an impact sport, you’re jumping the whole time. You’re using your whole body too. It’s a lot,” Martin adds.
In other words, they are not just there as ornaments.
“I feel like if we were a team that did not compete and have this routine then it would be that way, and I don’t think many of us would have these injuries because that’s mainly where our injuries come from: comp.”
What you may be missing from the stands is that the game cheering has a purpose, other than to hopefully see a Bearcat win.
“We do all of our stunts at the game on Fridays,” said Hardin.
“It’s basically a small practice inside of pep rallies and games,” said Martin.
Even after the state competition in December, the squad will continue to support basketball at all home games and conference road games.
However, since there are more than 20 of them, due to space reasons, they are divided into three groups with two performing at each event.
“Our season doesn’t really end until tryout, and then it just starts over again,” said Martin.
When basketball season ends there is a little bit of a break but then comes that tryout, fundraisers and, thus far in Martin and Hardin's cheer careers, summer practice to prepare for the next year.
For many onlookers it really is more than meets the eye.
COMPETITIVE CHEER: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
