Although cheer wasn’t originally on his radar, after scrolling through social media, senior Wyatt Thomspon was inspired.

“I became interested in cheer when I was scrolling through reels and coed stunting came up, and I was immediately interested in doing it,” Thompson said. 

This new challenge didn’t intimidate Thompson, though. Instead, it motivated him to excel.

“As an athlete, I love new physical challenges,” he said.

The tryouts were different from any other sport he’s participated in. There were both individual and team aspects, and the tryouts lasted three hours.

 “(It was) weird,” Thompson said. “I’ve never been to a tryout like that. We had a judges’ panel, and you did half of it by yourself.”

In his first year trying out, Thompson made the varsity cheerleading team. With the new sport, new struggles and nerves arose.

“I am most nervous about forgetting counts for our stunts and cheers,” Thompson said. “I was not aware of how important counts are for everything we do, especially stunting.” 

During football season, Thompson is the only male participating on the team.

“I enjoy cheering with the other guys. It’s more intimidating without Ramon (Reyes) and Lincoln (Robinson),” Thompson said.

Ultimately, this new challenge has brought excitement.

“I am looking forward to completing cool stunts with the team and just being able to have fun and getting better at tumbling,” he said.