With the basketball season ending, so is the cheer season. We were introduced to the first-year cheer coaches, head coach Jasmine Dessert, and assistant coach Cassandra Gammon during football season when they struck the school with their new dances and choice to not focus on competitions. They stuck with the same decision for winter cheer. Coach Dessert says this is because “high school cheer is supposed to be fun and not so competitive.”
With the free time, the cheerleaders had found without having to compete, they have been able to work on their dances, routines, and cheers, which audience members have seen become more unique and louder from football season into basketball season. The cheerleaders have 11 chants total, but the five they have done the most so far this season seem to be a big hit with the crowd, showing Malden’s pride at home. The chants that have been the most popular have been “Pick it up," “Let’s Go Malden," “HYPE," “Shoot the ball”, and “We got what you looking for”.
It is hard to miss the cheer team when walking into a Malden High School boys varsity basketball game with 14 cheerleaders, plus their two captains, senior Ava Conroy, and junior Giselle Dessert, taking up one section of the bleachers. They put on quite a show during the game.
When sitting on the bleachers, you can feel the vibrations of their cheers moving through the gym, like the rhythm of a song. It's hard not to bop your head with it. Along with all the energy they bring, they are also really good with reciprocating it to the crowd and getting them going while the boys play for extra support. Even the players resting on the bench like to join along in the defense chant while the guest team has the ball.
Sophomore cheerleader Isabella Troung says she feels the support from her coaches this season and feels that they really push her saying, “My coaches will always find a way to support me, they’ve also given me a safe space to be myself,” and not only have these coaches brought so much energy into the gym but many more opportunities for cheerleaders to improve the skills they started with.
So much so that coach Dessert and coach Gammon have made sure that their cheerleaders are practicing, even during the off-season, signing up their cheerleaders for tumbling clinics. They plan on having many clinics and captains practices themselves, not only to improve their current cheerleaders but to build and improve newcomers.
The team can all agree that this season was a great run, but many are saddened with having to send off their senior cheerleaders with whom they grew a bond on and off the court. Sophomore cheerleader Saniah Charles said “the hardest part of this season would have to be senior night. It was hard for me to basically send off these people I've grown a strong bond with, and connected with to the point that we’ve grown a big sister bond.”
Although Senior Night was saddening for some of the cheerleaders they did not let that get in the way of their performance throughout the whole game and their halftime special, where Head Coach Jasmine Dessert even joined in with the girls, which shows you the bond these cheerleaders have grown with their coach in such a short time. With the boys' varsity basketball team winning their senior night, and the outstanding performance from the cheerleaders keeping the crowd hyped and loud, the season couldn’t have ended better on either side.
The season ending is just the start for Malden’s cheerleaders. They gave it their all this season, and plan on giving that and more next season. They brought so much more than their cheers into the gym this season, the support and love they spread through the bleachers and onto the court led the Malden Varsity Boys Basketball team right into states. Hopefully next year Malden will be cheering their very own Cheer team as they plan to compete in states. As the cheerleaders say, “Let’s Go Malden!”
