Charlie Funderburk ’22

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You might think all-boys school would lack the people and coaches necessary to make a cheerleading team. Because of this, an all-boys schools would overlook the necessity of a cheerleading squad. Yet, the St. Agnes girls of the Strake Jesuit cheer team proudly cheer on for the Crusaders.

After a long season of dealing with the difficulties of COVID, the cheerleaders have been more than excited to cheer at games and pep rallies at full capacity once again.

“There’s nothing these cheerleaders love more than performing in front of a full stadium,” Cheer Coach Mrs. Matthews said. “Especially at the first home football game, the girls had so much fun being back in front of the crowd.” 

Because all the cheerleaders attend St. Agnes, the biggest difficulty for the Strake Jesuit cheerleading team is “working with other students’ different commitments and different schedules,” according to Mrs. Matthews. However, the cheerleaders stay committed to practicing an hour and a half for three days a week.

Upholding that standard of commitment is Cheer Captain Isabelle Louis. “The role of the captain is to lead the team in practices, games, and to just be a good role model,” Ms. Louis said. “I’ve been doing cheerleading since I was little and when I got to high school, I wanted to do Strake Jesuit cheer.” 

It’s hard to imagine the success of a cheerleading team at an all-boys school. With the difficulties of organization, managing schedules, and recently, a pandemic, it is a tough task to ready a cheer squad for Friday nights. Yet, with the coaching of Mrs. Matthews and her assistant Mrs. Luke and the leadership of cheerleaders like Isabelle Louis, the cheerleaders never fail to rally up the Strake Jesuit crowd.