In the fourth grade, six young girls decided to begin cheerleading for Revere youth football. As the years went on, more girls joined the team. They won competitions, which they believe boosted their confidence as a whole. The team not only worked in practice with their coach, but as the years went on, they realized that cheering became more serious to them and worked outside of practice to make them better. The team noted how they became close as their early high school careers went on. From the start they emphasized that they had great potential and began to form friendships with each other that would last throughout high school.

Now cheering on the Revere varsity cheerleading squad, Katie Mayer, Megan Rogerson, Mallory Schweiger, Madi Spector, Marissa Staats and Mackenzie Zeller are all seniors. The team is coached by Kelly Staats, who has coached the varsity at Revere for two years. She also has coached this group since their fourth grade year. The group added Kasey Evans, Marissa Harbath, Lucy Loper, Gabriella Medvick, Angel Motz and Maria Sibbio throughout middle school. Staats, a two year letterman, noted that she has had a great experience with the cheerleading squad.

“I’ve liked [my experience with these girls] because this is the group of friends that I hang out with. We really don’t branch out from each other… We have gotten a lot closer, especially since high school began,” Staats said.

Cheerleading captain, Rogerson, expressed her feelings toward the team as well.

“I am so lucky to have such amazing teammates,” Rogerson said.

This senior class of girls is larger than previous years, having twelve cheerleaders. Most of the girls are experienced and have cheered throughout their entire high school careers. Zeller, a two year letterman, talked about the team’s expectations.

“We have all cheered for a long time… This makes people have high expectations for us,” Zeller said.

When the team first began, there were a lot of girls, but some dropped out of the team through the years. Coach Kelly Staats stated how she developed her squad.

“I pushed them as much as they could. [The high school coach at the time] set the bar high, so my job in youth was to throw a lot at my girls,” Kelly Staats said.

Kelly’s daughter, Marissa Staats, talked about the talent they had in the beginning.

“I’ve watched tapes of us in fourth grade, [it did not show] but we thought we were amazing,” she said.

As the years went on, the group began winning many competitions and improving. In the beginning of middle school, high school helpers (varsity cheerleaders) coached the girls and taught them routines.

“[Seventh grade] was when we really started coming out and making our own chants and cheers. We also started to help the youth then too… Eighth grade was the first year we went to cheer camp, which is usually only supposed to be for high school,” Staats said.

Coach Kelly Staats mentioned that she has enjoyed how the girls have helped her with the youth programs.

“I loved working aside my girls who I used to coach when they were at that age,” Kelly said.

Their main goals to finish their careers are to do a full squad tumbling routine and to win states. Spector, two year letterman, shared her feelings on her final year.

“Senior year of cheerleading is most definitely my favorite year and I am really going to miss cheering for Revere with these girls next year,” Spector said.

Schweiger also talked about her senior year experience with a different perspective.

“[We are] finally ‘those’ girls that I looked up to as a youth cheerleader, it’s unreal,” Schweiger said.

Most of the girls have noticed that cheerleading has been their best high school experience. After many years of being together, some have reached the final stage of their cheering careers. Starting with six, then gaining six more, the cheerleaders have recognized that they have had a very successful career, and now, in the latter half of their memorable careers, they look to finish strong all together.