Since it is football season and most people are attending games, most game attendees get rallied up and cheering on the team. But what would a football game be without cheerleaders cheering them on and showing off their high flying stunts? The game would still be exciting, but without the encouragement and cheering, the game would just not be the same. 

     Senior flyer and cheer captain Arianna Barata, has been involved in cheerleading for 12 years, since she was just five years old. She is also involved in the musicals and plays that happen yearly at the school. Her favorite thing about cheer is flying. As a senior flyer, she has had much experience and has grown to be a very good flyer. She is also very persistent when it comes to landing new skills in the air. Her biggest accomplishment is hitting her lib consistently after trying for many years to get it. This is a very difficult stunt to accomplish. A flyer is to stand on one leg while being held over bases heads. This takes very much balance, patience, and strength to do. The cheer team works very hard and one of her favorite memories is from eighth grade she had won her first competition in coatesville.

     Arianna is excited to be a senior on the cheer team because it comes with a lot of responsibilities and learning to teach others. Also as a captain she is expected to know all material whether it be dances, cheers, or sidelines. In addition there is stress to come with it. “While being a captain on the team is exciting there is also the part of having pressure put on you to be really good.” The pressure is not just to be perfect, know material, and teach but also be an example to younger student athletes. Without the support of her mom who had cheered all through high school and college, and was also a flyer, to encourage and guide her through her cheer journey. When she graduates she says “I’m going to miss stunting most because it is so exhilarating.” While there is so much joy in being a senior athlete, there are also some sad things too. The hardest thing for Arianna as a senior is leaving behind all the great people she had met and formed friendships and close relationships to. 

    While she may be leaving Hamburg Area High School in the upcoming months, she will not be leaving the hearts of her teammates and coach, Nicole Valentino. Since Arianna had cheered for 12 years she has cheered for Coach Nicki since middle school. In this time she can only  be described as “A total pleasure, talented, skilled in many areas, along with very social and high energy.” Coach Nicki’s favorite thing about being Arianna’s coach is seeing her grow not only as a cheerleader but as a person too. Her progress from youth cheer to high school has been an amazing process from doing knee sits to libs. Also she demonstrates admirable leadership skills to teach and lead others along.  While cheering for Nicki, there are some favorite memories Arianna has acquired over the years. One is a tip she had learned from our very own coach: “If you look down you’re going down clown.” This is a tip that Arianna  uses to help teach newer flyers, for when they look down. “Over time there have been so many good memories with Arianna and the team as a whole.” With Arianna leaving the team she will be very deeply missed.