By Andreale Mitchell ’23
Derby High School’s cheer team has a lot of new faces this basketball season, including coach Corey Bartone, who has been a cheer coach for 33 years and says she’s excited to be a part of building up the team. Before the season began, she was very confident in knowing she had a good group of students for the season ,and she says she is excited to teach them about cheerleading and wants to create a strong team. She describes the cheer leaders to be enthusiastic, students who get along well with each other and are always willing to help each other out when it is needed. I spoke to Samantha Hernandez’25 and she expressed that since she was little the thought of cheer always excited her. This year she joined because she wanted the feel of being on a team. She said “ the teammates are all really nice, they tell you when you need to improve and that is very helpful”. She also says “ Miss Bartone is really sweet, she isn’t a pushover coach when things need to be corrected she makes it known while still being really nice”. I asked her, “to anyone who may be interested in joining this team?” Hernandez says was “I would tell them cheerleading is fun to be involved in and if you’re interested in being involved and having a supportive team you should.”
DHS’s cheer team is filled with many different personalities and age gaps but they get along and make the best out of their time together. They cheer during basketball games and also have a competition team if you are interested in one or the other you can pick! . This year they are striving to improve their techniques and gather more of those who are interested in cheerleading.
Teamwork is what really makes a team thrive. Working together, helping each other, and being able to criticize and correct others’ mistakes will help grow a strong group of people. This team demonstrates exactly that, each and every member looks proud to be representing our school. During their practices the people with more experience take the lead, they watch over those that are new and correct them in places where they may not be strong.
I sat in on one of their practices, and I can easily say this is a group of hardworking and dedicated people. While observing a practice, each girl took turns either basing or flying to get a feel of what it would be like. Coach Bartone smiled and complimented the girls on how well they did and showed her appreciation to those that helped. When they learned their cheers they split into groups to make it less confusing, and if one person was struggling more than others they all stopped to show them what to do and cheered and congratulated them once they got it right. There are a lot of first-time cheerleaders on this team, but I doubt anyone could even tell. If cheerleading is something that interests you, don’t be afraid to try it out; we have an amazing team that will welcome you with open arms.
The Raider Press 