The John Carroll School has not seen their cheerleaders at a basketball game in almost three years, but that changes this basketball season. Under the leadership of Coach Shaunna Rivera, the JC cheerleaders are having a winter season.

Coach Rivera said that the goal of the winter cheer season is to “continue to build a structured, reputable and competitive program.”

The difference of the fall season and the winter season is that winter cheerleaders will cheer at basketball games and possibly wrestling matches while also competing in local competitions as opposed to the fall cheer squad which generally only cheers at football games.

The competition goal for this season, as Coach Rivera remarked, is to get the team to compete in two to three local competitions.

Currently, the cheerleaders are looking to compete in a regional competition in Lancaster, which will take place in January and a local invitational in Owings Mills, which will take place in February.

With the goal of this season being to become a competitive team, the hardest challenge Coach Rivera encounters is “getting everyone on the same page with the same mindset in order to achieve our goals.”

Every team has their challenges regardless of what type of season, and she is ready to face any challenge to help better her team.

On the flip side, Coach Rivera is looking forward to continuing “athlete skill development and continuing to create awareness around the cheerleading program and promoting school spirit and pride.”

For the future of the program, Coach Rivera wants to see there be enough cheerleaders to have both a JV and a varsity team. She would also like to see the program be “highly recognized within our greater community, region and state.”

In the scale of community involvement, Coach Rivera hopes that in the future, she will see “the JC cheer program to also be regularly active within our community by participating in more community events such as parades, appearances, and service opportunities.”