As winter kicks in, so does South’s cheerleading competition season. With the end of football season, basketball starts up, marking a transition cheer must make.

Fall cheerleading, considered a sideline sport, must make the quick and busy shift to the competition level of an IHSA sport, Amanda Middleton, Varsity Cheerleading Head Coach and psychologist, said.

“Our winter season is busier because we’re not only performing at the basketball games and preparing for those performances, but also working on our competition routine as well,” Middleton said.

Cheerleading had its new winter season tryouts in October. This gives the cheerleaders who cannot participate in one cheer season at least one other opportunity. Separation between the seasons offer athletes with tighter schedules to do at least one season of cheer.

By going from two to three practices each week to daily practices, it gets harder to balance cheerleading with school and extracurriculars, Middleton said. This stretch of time can be difficult for athletes who have practices outside of school along with the school practices.

“It’s hard because we have no breaks,” sophomore Sydney Burns, varsity cheer base and tumbler, said. “It’s very fast and sudden.”

Team building and goal setting also takes up a lot of time for cheer, Middleton said.

“It is so neat for me as a coach to be able to watch us not only set goals, but then continue to make progress towards those goals throughout the season,” Middleton said.

Last year, varsity cheer placed seventh at sectionals, Middleton said. Competing at their highest level was a highlight for many of the athletes on the team that year.

“Winter season sectionals last year were huge because we did the best we’ve ever done,” Burns said. “We placed very well and it was an amazing feeling. Sectionals will be the highlight of my winter season.”

Throughout the winter season, varsity cheer looks forward to gathering with the Titan Stars, students at South with disabilities who are a part of intramural cheer, to work on routines and to perform at basketball games throughout the season, Middleton said.

“We always look forward to and really enjoy our Titan Stars program in the winter,” Middleton said.

This January, the varsity cheer team will be hosting the conference competition, where they will be competing against all other teams in the Central Suburban League (CSL).

“[The conference competition] is fun because it’s more competitive [since] we’re going against other schools that are in our community,” Middleton said. “We’re really excited to be able to host that this year.”

Many athletes on Varsity Cheerleading look forward to the winter season in terms of competing and spending more time with their team, Burns said.

“I really like the progress that we make in the winter season, creating a routine and actually getting to perform it,” Burns said.