West Shore has its first competition cheer team after holding tryouts on Oct. 17.

“Leading up to tryouts [Coach Kaitlyn] Hoskins was just watching how the players were doing overall,” freshman Calianna Counsman said. “Hoskins was looking for people who were good at performing. One of her main things was commitment because of all of the different practices and competitions are very demanding.”

While leading up to tryouts, the girls were focused at practices and making sure they knew the routines that they had to perform for Hoskins and the other guest judges. The girls had to learn a fight song and a cheer.

“The fight song we had known for year but had just changed it over summer so for returning people it was harder,” Counsman said. “The cheer was a basic cheer that we had done a thousand times that we learned at NCA camp over the summer.”

Hoskins said she has been impressed by the team’s performance.

“Our team has good connections with each other and some have been with each other for years,”  Hoskins said. “I have high expectations for this upcoming season especially for it being our first year doing this.”

Hoskins said this year is looking good for the first time doing a competition team.

“I didn’t know how well this was going to go over at the beginning since we just got approved by the district to do a competition team this year,” Hoskins said. “But so far I am very impressed with all of the girls, and I am excited for what is to come.”

By Reese Courtney