Members of the marching band, cheer team, and student section discuss how they work together, and how they participate during football games
By Journalism I student Olivia Smith
The cheerleaders, marching band, and student section all contribute the ambiance of the stadium in order to support the football team. Friday night football games returned to “the Marv” Aug. 24.
Fans range from middle school students to returning UA alumni. Although everyone contributes to the school’s spirit during the game, certain groups put in extra time to boost the morale of the Golden Bears.
The cheerleaders involve the crowd by chanting during timeouts, as well as performing dances. They put in hard work and hours of time to make sure that each cheer is perfected. The cheerleaders have tumbling one day per week, along with lifting two days a week.
Varsity cheerleader Isabel Carmichael said, “The whole ambiance of it is insane.” The crowd goes wild when the cheerleaders involve everybody in their well-known chants.
The JV cheerleaders get involved with the marching band during first quarter by facing towards them and cheering along with their songs and cadences.
When they are not playing, the marching band chants along with cheers such as “We’ve Got Spirit,” which is a call and answer cheer with the student section.
Junior Kayla Foulke, a member of the marching band, said, “The crowd has started cheering along with the bands music and they will jump along to the fight song when we play it.”
The band puts in around seven hours of work each week; in order to learn a new show and new music every two weeks. Fridays are very full of events for the band. On home games, they go out to breakfast at 6am, and then have practice from 7:30 to the end of the period. They also host something called a “spread” where they are fed dinner, and then they play for a certain neighborhood.
“Once the school year starts, we really crunch and we are on the field every morning starting at 7:30 a.m. learning the new drills,” Foulke said.
The student section consists of students from every grade level, organized with the freshman at the top and the seniors at the bottom, nearest to the field.
Junior Isabel Sweet goes to the home football games to watch her friends on the football team. She also enjoys watching the marching band, especially when they play play well-known songs in front of the student section during third quarter.
“The band is always hyped up,” Sweet said. They “[The cheerleaders] make it a more fun environment and they start all of the cheers.
The stadium is filled with energized spirits, each person helping to energize the football team and give them the confidence and as each adds to their own role, the football team is able to be confident. Football game Fridays have been known to be the highlighted night of the week, according to UAHS students and crowd members.