The Cheerleaders cheer in unison as the football players head down the field. Photo taken by Courtney Fitzgerald.
On August 19, 2019, the 2019 Cheerleading season began. They gained new freshmen, lost some seniors, and appointed new captains. The two new captains this season are senior Shante Simon, and junior Makayla Preston.
Head coach Melanie Philbrook spoke out on her hopes for this season. Philbrook stated that she is “very impressed” by the involvement that the football players had with the cheerleaders. The football players have “decorated the cheerleaders’ lockers, let them wear their game shirts and gave them gifts before the first game.” The cheerleaders have also done their share in cheering on the boys before games by decorating their lockers at the home stadium.
Philbrook stated that her goal for the season is to win back the Greater Boston Leagues and bide back to the State Championship. She also mentioned that she hopes to get the crowd more involved while they are cheering and to have a lot of spirit around the school on game days.
Simon stated that it is “really cool” being captain and she enjoys being “the person [her] teammates can always go to.” Simon’s goals for this season are similar to the coach’s. She hopes to “make it back to states and place top 10.” Although this is Simon’s last season at Malden High she still hopes that the rest of the girls “continue to work hard after [she is] gone.” She hopes to be a person the younger cheerleaders can look up too, and hopes to “be a good asset to the team.” From previous seasons Simon would incorporate the connection the team has had.
Preston has had a lot of fun being captain. Preston has also stated that “[she] is very excited for the season with a great group of girls. [She cannot] wait to “compete at competitions and cheer on the [football players] at the games.”
Preston said that being captain is a fun role even though “there are responsibilities to be done [it has] been a great way to get closer to the other girls on the team.” Preston hopes to improve the cheerleaders’ voices and interaction with the crowd as well as hoping for the competition team to hit their motions and stunts to do great at the competitions.
She also hopes the “family” bonds for every team in the future. “[They] all spend so much time together that it is important to trust and be friends with everyone,” stated Preston. She hopes that as a captain she can lead the girls to success and be a person the other can go to with any problem “[kind of] like a big sister for the girls”.
Overall the cheerleaders and coaches hope to have a very successful season. They hope to get themselves back to States and to even try and go further.
This year the coach has decided to only compete nine out of ten of the girls. There is also some friendly and healthy competition within the team as there are two sets of sisters on the team. The team is slowly becoming a family and Philbrook states “win, lose or draw this season, [she] is proud to be from the Den.”
The first competition is on November 3, 2019, at Danvers High School.
