By Sayellor Taylor-Blackstone

   Rigorous dance routine. Intense team bond. Sparkling pom poms. These are some ways to describe Cheer, one of Tempe Prep’s most attended sports.

   Clare Bergin, a junior at TPA, has been on the team since her freshman year and describes it as one of the best decisions she could make regarding her high school experience. She comments that cheer has majorly strengthened “the friendships I had prior to the season and every single year it has allowed me to grow so much closer with people in other grades that [I] probably would never have hung out with otherwise!” 

   Clare mentions that the best part of the sport is getting to be “surrounded by all of the girls who you can tell share the same passion for cheer.” 

   One of her proudest moments from the season was practicing consistently for the Homecoming routine and performing it at the game against Chandler Prep. 

   Junior Sara Salehi shares the same love for this and says “it was so much fun performing and practicing with the whole team!” Although this was one of the trickiest choreographies to nail, she says it is “so fun to perform and totally worth the practice.”

   Another aspect of the tight-knit community within the sport is due to the cheer coach. Clare comments that she loves Coach Alex, and guarantees everyone on the team will “absolutely say the same thing. She is always so supportive of all of us and very open with communication and feedback.” She notes, too, that her coach gives creative leniency with building routines and is there for every member of the team. Sara adds that she “really pushes us to work hard and cares so much about [everyone]”.

   Clare adds that she only has the “best things to say about TPA cheer and I am so proud of the team and how far we’ve come over just the 3 short years I’ve been a part of it. I have so much love for all the girls and our coach. I cannot recommend joining enough!”