Photo via the SLHS Cheer Team

Being in a new school can be scary, these 3 freshmen are balancing a varsity sport with a new environment. Freshmen Anya Catto, Natalie Rutland, and Milly Navarro, talk about what it’s like being on the varsity cheer team while balancing school. 

Practice and balancing school work can be tricky at first, said Anya Catto, “It’s for sure been a lot more than I expected. From middle school I really didn’t have a lot of work, so now that I’m in high school it’s a lot more work but it’s been pretty manageable and I have grown some really good techniques to be able to control it”. Support from your fellow peers and upperclassmen can really help when you are new to something, with Milly Navarro saying about the upperclassmen,“[The upperclassmen] are so nice and they help you when needed”. Natalie Rutland talked about the environment “It’s really fun being on varsity because of all the friends and environment.It’s nice to have three coaches who are there to support you and help you” 

“My favorite part of being on the team is that I know a lot more people. That is really good because starting high school I was already a part of something. That was a really big and important part of this experience” said Catto. South Lakes varsity football is going strong with a streak of 4 victories after their win against Mount Vernon with a score of 51-7 on September 14th. They will soon go on and verse our rivals Herndon in hopes of making it 5 and 0. Navarro and Rutland stated that they like cheering at football games because “It’s really fun, [and] it’s probably my favorite part.” 

If you’re interested in trying out for South Lakes cheer and wonder what tryouts were like, Catto shared her experience, saying “Tryouts were so nerve racking, but it was really fun and it was really exciting.I’m glad that I wasn’t the only freshman because I knew that other people were also scared” All three freshman had no prior knowledge of cheer, as Navarro and Rutland came from gymnastics backgrounds and Catto from dance. Navarro stated “I had no prior knowledge with cheer before trying out but, I did gymnastics which definitely helped with tumbling”. Anyone can try out for South Lakes cheer. They all plan on continuing to cheer for the rest of highschool in hopes of making varsity again.