Junior Brooke Posner, a former La Salle volleyball player, picked up cheer this year as a way to push herself and learn something new. 

Posner was initially nervous about participating in cheerleading, as she had no prior experience, but her coaches helped her immensely, as she said that they have a lot of experience in cheerleading and taught her whole team a lot. 

“The coaches basically taught me everything, and now I feel like I’m actually a real cheerleader,” Posner said. “They taught me how to do things that I thought I’d never be able to do.” 

Being in her first year on the cheer team, Posner has learned a lot and feels that she has grown her skills significantly. 

Since La Salle recently brought back the presence of the cheer team, the members didn’t know each other well at the beginning of the year. Over time, they grew to trust each other and work with each other on new, potentially scary things. 

“We trust each other, like with stunting, you have to trust someone because you’re basically putting someone in the air. We’ve all kind of learned to trust each other and that’s just my favorite part.” 

Stunting, when cheerleaders lift each other and perform in specific formations, is something the cheer team has been working on since their formation. This consists of a flier, the person who stands in the air and does the stunts, two bases, or the people that stand at the bottom, and a back spot, a person who helps catch the flier and ensure that nothing goes wrong. 

The fliers on the cheerleading team are freshman Jordan Willis, sophomore Gwyn Lute, and junior Maria Rohe. Junior Lisa Safina is a base, along with Posner, in the group that she stunts in. Sophomore Caitlin Keeler is a back spot in the stunt group. 

Posner sees encouragement as something that is vital to the team. She brings a lot of positive energy and encouragement to the cheerleading team, as she says that being positive helps relieve stress that arises during stunting. 

When the cheer team is performing at various La Salle games, Posner and her teammates really enjoy when there is crowd involvement in their routines and the student section brings good energy.

A teammate that Posner really appreciates is freshman Jordan Willis. Willis, as she has been cheerleading for a while, has been helpful to Posner in developing her tumbling skills. Freshman Freya Rapaport is another cheerleader that has experience in the sport and has been helpful to Posner. 

Posner also noted that being able to expand her social circle and connect with all of her teammates is something that she has found very valuable. 

Overall, Posner feels she has grown a lot and has taught herself that she is capable. For example, she never thought she would be able to achieve skills such as the splits, but through cheerleading, she has been able to shock herself and learn new and difficult skills. 

One of Posner’s proudest achievements since being on the team was moving from the back row to the front for their routines. Being in the front row of routines signifies her improvement. Another thing that Posner values is having fun on the team. She noted that she joined the cheer team to find a sport where she could have fun and push herself, and she said that cheer helped her do just that. 

Outside of practice for La Salle’s cheer team, Posner puts in work in order to get better. On Wednesdays, Posner works on her tumbling skills at a cheer club called Thunder Elite. Tumbling is something that is brand new to Posner and she is currently working on her back and front walkover which has been a goal of hers for quite a while. 

She really enjoys being able to support her school and preserve school spirit. The homecoming football game is an experience that she noted as being especially enjoyable. 

Posner stated that her coaches are very flexible and supportive of the cheerleaders’ academic lives as well as their athletic lives. She appreciates the accommodation that her coaches allow her and her teammates regarding academics. 

Laurie Colletta and Jessica Morgan, the cheerleading coaches, are people that Posner looks up to and sees as impactful to her growth as a cheerleader. She added that anyone can participate in cheer if you give your all and have a positive attitude. 

“I didn’t think I could do it and I ended up being really great and it’s given me a lot of confidence,” Posner said. “So if you’re looking for something to do, definitely do cheer because it’s really helped me with everything overall.”

On Saturday, March 4, the cheer team will attend the first round of playoffs for La Salle’s boys basketball team, hosted at La Salle. Posner looks forward to it, as she is excited to experience a game with a different level of pressure with the cheer team.

Correction: March 2, 2023

A previous version of this story misspelled Gwyn Lute’s first name.