Each day sometimes as early as 6:45 in the morning, you can find our cheerleaders working hard in practice.

The girls spend hours together practicing stunts, making cheers, going to other sports’ games, and making posters to hang around the school.

Since Independence opened this year, the team is significantly smaller.

But this had no effect on their ability to excel as a team and do an amazing job representing the school.

“The hardest thing about being on a cheer team that doesn’t have a full squad is probably having to go to every single game even if it’s not the team you would originally cheer for with a full squad,” said sophomore Dani Clower. “It’s a little more time consuming than it would be which kind of cuts into academics and other things you’re involved in.”

The 16 girls that are apart of the team have to be present at every wrestling match, volleyball, football, basketball, and soccer game.

With all of those sports occurring so close together, that’s almost an activity every day after school.

Despite the fact that they work with such a small team, the Knight cheer squad has already won some awards against other schools.

Cheerleader Alysa Bradford said her favorite award was the Best Competition Dance Over All.

Through all the hard work, these girls find a way to stick together and go above and beyond the school’s expectations.

“We’re all basically one big family and it’s pretty awesome. Peyton and Natasha act as our moms and they’re always looking out for us. They always have our backs, and they are always doing what’s best for us,” said Alysa Bradford.

Coaching a brand new team could be extremely difficult.

Coach Chelsea Hamilton is one of the three varsity cheer coaches who had the opportunity to work with these girls.

Coach Hamilton said it takes up a lot of the girls time outside of school, as they have many in and out of school events.

“The outcome has been really positive, we have well rounded girls, they have learned to have a really good work ethic. They have really come together to know how to work as a team, and I just think it’s a lot of fun,” Coach Hamilton said.

Even though they have a lot on their plate, the cheer squad finds a way to keep not only themselves motivated, but the whole school as well.