In the last year, the Danville Junior High School (DJHS) cheerleading team has focused on expanding the use of stunting throughout Knox County.
Stunting increases the technical and athletic skill required in cheerleading. In the competitive athletic sport of cheerleading, stunts are defined as building performances that display a team's skill or dexterity.
Stunting in cheerleading has previously been referred to as building pyramids, but range from basic two-legged stunts, to one-legged extended stunts and high-flying basket tosses. A basket toss is a stunt performed using three or more bases to toss a flyer into the air. Two of the bases interlock their hands and while in the air, the flyer does some type of jump, ranging from toe-touches to herkies (a jump with one leg straight out to the side and the other bent flat beneath the body) before returning to the cradle.
The Danville Junior High School program started last year during the start of the basketball season, but it implemented more ambitious goals this past summer. Together, head coach Becky Baer and coaches Lindsey Sheldon and Shena Leply worked to help the team’s ability to compete at a high level.
“All three coaches were very experienced in cheerleading and knew what we wanted to make possible for the team,” Baer said. “Together, we got our stunting license. This is the first year since 2010 that Danville has had stunting.”
The six girls on the DJHS team are Kaitlyn Stulka, Dakota Cross, Saydie Pressley, MJ Lape, Sky Bickle and Ari Keegan, and they work hard with the coaches on their routines. The team practices two or three times per week for 2.5 hours per session, and has two weeks to get down each new routine.
The team performs during sports games, completing choreographed dancing routines with stunting. According to Baer, some of the greatest challenges include managing to stay on count, and remembering the sequence of how everything should go.
The team has been able to overcome difficulties by consistently going above and beyond to make sure everything comes together.
“It’s great to see the team come together and work really hard to push each other,” Baer said. “All of the girls often practice on their own time, and help the other girls to learn the routines faster.”
This extra effort allows the team to compete at a high level.
“We’ve started doing a little bit harder stunts to try to keep up with the Danville High School cheerleading program. I want to push the girls to want to do better, to want to do more,” Baer said.
Over the last decade or so, stunting in cheerleading has become less common in Knox County, to the point where Danville High School is the only other group that incorporates it for its team. While Baer acknowledges the hard work necessary to make stunting in cheerleading routines possible, she thinks the final product is absolutely worth it.
“It would be nice if a lot more people would be encouraged to get their schools to get stunting back,” Baer said. “It’s a lot of work, but it’s so worth it. We’re the only ones in Knox County that do it, and we would love to see other schools take a chance and really go for it.”
