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South O'Brien High School
Cheer and Dance Team

Coach: Kris Faust

South O'Brien Fight Song

2013-2014 Cheer & Dance Team Rosters

2013 Fall Squad 2013-2014 Winter Cheer and Dance Squad

Fall/Football Squad:
Haley Bottjen
Kelsey Daniels
Jacque Detrick
Emily Heeren
Morgan Hoogland
Karissa Langland
Libby Wagner
Molly Weber

Haley Bottjen
Kelsey Daniels
Jacque Detrick
Jenna Heemstra
Emily Heeren
Morgan Hoogland
Skylar Kunkel
Karissa Langland
Kaylee Mammen-DeVos
Daneille Nelson
Kristin Tentinger
Libby Wagner
Molly Weber

* = Captains

 

 

Just a little history. . .
November 2 is the official birthday of cheerleading, which began in 1898.

In the 1880s, Princeton University supporters frequently cheered in unison from the stands. In 1884, a Princeton graduate named Thomas Peebles moved to Minneapolis and shared Princeton's cheering ideas.

November 2, 1898 was the University of Minnesota football team's final game against Northwestern University. Minnesota had been losing games, and the student newspaper published an editorial and said, "Any plan that would stir up enthusiasm for athletics would be helpful."

So a group of young men from the University of Minnesota decided to lead the whole crowd in cheering, and on this day in 1898, Johnny Campbell picked up a megaphone, stood in front of the crowd of spectators, and directed them to yell: "Rah, Rah, Rah! Ski-U-Mah! Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah! Varsity! Varsity! Minn-e-so-tah!" The crowd shouted so enthusiastically that Minnesota was inspired and won the game 17-6.

For 25 years, cheerleading was an activity only for men. In 1923, the University of Minnesota created the first female cheerleading squad, but it wasn't until the 1940s that women became the majority of cheerleaders. These days, cheerleading is 97 percent women at a high school level.

Cheer is still not considered an official sport in many states, but it is a dangerous one — of the 3 million female high school athletes, 12 percent are cheerleaders, but it accounts for 65 percent of catastrophic injuries.

The South O'Brien Cheerleaders take tremendous pride in the work they do to inspire school spirit. Besides firing up the crowd at games, the Cheerleaders:

      • perform dance routines to entertain the Wolverine fans at halftimes
      • decorate the school halls with spirit and locker signs
      • add new cheers and chants to pump up the crowd
      • plan pep rallies
      • make run-through signs for games
      • hold elementary cheer clinics
      • paint paw prints around the district to get fans fired-up for Homecoming
      • attend cheer clinics and competitions

Tryouts for both football and basketball cheerleader squads are held in the spring each year. The South O'Brien High School Cheer and Dance Coach is Kris Faust.