More than just a pretty face

Trilby Bannister chuckles when she tells friends how worn out she is from practice, then hears their reaction.
But you’re just a cheerleader, they exclaim.
Being just a cheerleader involves a lot more than rallying the crowd and looking pretty.
“They think all we do is cheer,” Bannister said. “They don’t realize how hard cheerleading really is, how hard we work.”
The 14-member squad will perform its first halftime show of the 2013 football season Friday at the Mustangs’ home opener.
Gearing up for a full game’s worth of cheers, as well as an elaborate halftime routine, involves long hours of practices, ones that can be every bit as intense as those for athletes involved in other fall sports.
Monday’s was no exception. Practice began with a run around Riverside Park in the searing heat, then an extensive stretching session before the members began work on their dance routine.
Time is of the essence. They have until Friday to get the routine down pat. And with cheer captain Mackenzie Weseloh in charge, the routine must be perfect.
Weseloh, who has an extensive background in various forms of dance, worked with the Bannister sisters, Trilby and Olivia, to set the choreography.
“If you see anything that needs improving, point it out,” Weseloh directs one observer, while in mid-spin. “And make sure everybody is smiling.”
“Mackenzie is tough, but she’s not rude about it,” Trilby Bannister said. “She’s strict.”
“Cheer practice is hard, but it’s a different kind of hard than for sports,” Weseloh said. “You use an entirely different set of muscles. Other athletes may have an hour or longer to make up for mistakes. We have three minutes, and we can’t have any mistakes.”
Bannister agreed.
“If you’re in a sport, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said. “You can just sort of go with the flow sometimes. With cheerleading, you have to know exactly where you’re going to be and what you’re doing the entire time.”
Torrie Lewis is a cheerleader and former volleyball player. She was asked to compare practices between the two.
“I can tell you that the sorest I’ve ever been was after a day at cheer camp,” Lewis said.
Monday’s practice was an abbreviated one so most of the cheerleaders could report for duty at the IHS junior varsity football game. Practices on other nights last about two hours.
“Normally we practice on the track,” Weseloh said, in close proximity to the football team. “A few of the guys comment about how much we have to run.”
Weseloh likely will schedule morning practices for the rest of the week, so the squad can work even more on the halftime show.
“We’re back to two-a-days” she said with a sly grin.

PENNY HERDER, in her 16th year as IHS cheer coach, points out several misconceptions about today’s cheerleader.
“A lot of people don’t realize cheerleaders don’t have much of an offseason,” Herder said.
After their public performances wrap up at the end of basketball, the cheerleaders immediately set their sights on the future.
A series of tryouts are required to earn a spot on the next year’s squad. That takes place in March, with the assistance of cheer judges from around the community, to ensure the fairest selection process possible.
From there, the cheerleaders organize a series of fundraisers through the rest of the spring to help pay for summer camps, uniforms, pompons, etc. Camp admission alone costs $250 per cheerleader.
“It’s expensive,” Herder said.
Then comes the grueling physical training to prepare for the camp each July, which involves a series of calisthenics, stretching and running — lots of running.
Staying in shape in the offseason is key to the performances in-season, Weseloh and Herder said.
It’s no coincidence, the Iola squad stays injury-free despite complicated routines filled with jumps, flips and kicks.
“Our offseason literally lasts all of about three weeks,” from after summer camp until fall practices start, Herder said.
As soon as Friday’s game ends, the cheerleaders set their sights on their next performance. An entirely new dance routine is developed.
The squad assigns different cheerleaders the responsibility of each routine.
“We try to come up with different themes each week,” Lewis said. “We have a home game on Halloween night, so that routine should be fun.”
“We try to pair up our older cheerleaders with our younger ones, to show them how it works,” Herder said. “It seems to work pretty well.”

THE IHS squad has a few extra irons in the fire this fall.
Several cheerleaders assist with an after-school SAFE BASE cheer class that started this week. In addition, they will join forces with the Chanute High cheer squad for a large group routine when the Mustangs visit Chanute in late October on the football field.
The performance will have a pink hue, in honor of October’s designation of breast cancer awareness month.
The Iola squad earned the invitation while both squads were at a recent camp, Herder said.
“It surprised us, because Iola and Chanute are always rivals,” she said. “It’ll be fun. We’re looking forward to it.”