Cheer
Rock with brown, roll with white too!
Olivia Solorzano '26
News Editor
Cheer takes hard work and countless hours of practice. From memorizing moves down to the inch, to remembering what chant goes with which dance, being a part of Crespi Cheer takes dedication.
According to USA Cheer, cheer dates back to the 1800s, where a young man sitting in the stands of the University of Minnesota for a sports game jumped the fence and started chanting on the field. Thus, cheerleading was born!
Believe it or not, in its early days, cheerleading was a sport mostly dominated by men. At the time, they were called “yell leaders” and primarily men were on the sidelines encouraging their team, although women could be on the team if they chose to. Cheerleading, like many professions at the time, became a women-led sport after World War II, after the men had gone off to war. Today, cheer is an international sport with over three million participants.
In our own community, there are 20 strong Louisville girls participating in Crespi cheer, led by their two coaches: Coach Pat Baker and Coach Marissa Franchino.
Coach Baker, who is the head of the team, runs everything to help keep the team steady and organized, and Coach Franchino is the assistant coach.
Like most other sports, cheer has two teams: junior varsity and varsity. Junior varsity consists of nine girls, mostly freshmen, while varsity consists of 11 girls, and it’s a mix of sophomores, juniors and seniors. JV cheers for the junior varsity sports games at Crespi, and varsity cheers for the varsity games.
Each team has captains to put together the halftime performances and create the cheers for each game. The captains, being the heads of each team, also work hard to teach everyone the dances they have choreographed. The cheer captains for varsity are Allison Perez ’25, Bianca Franchino ’25 and Charlotte Foti ’24. The girls on the varsity team, who are also captains for the junior varsity team, are Olivia Torres ’26 and Mariah Campuzano ’26.
Not only does the team cheer at football games, they also motivate the basketball team on the sidelines during winter.
“I love cheering for basketball because the student section is so fun and interactive,” said Olivia Torres ’26.
Like any sport, cheer takes hard work and diligence. It takes relentless enthusiasm, even if you’re not feeling 100% one day.
“Being a Crespi cheerleader means being a supporter of Crespi athletics and a part of the longstanding Crespi and Louisville community,” said Bianca Franchino ’25.
The Crespi Cheer team is an incredible group of talented and dedicated girls who bring their unconditional energy and spirit to every sports event. Their fun routines, impressive stunts and exciting cheers lift up the entire community. They embody what it means to have school pride and spirit. If you’re interested in joining cheer, tryouts are during the spring and you can contact Coach Baker if you have any questions. And remember, go Celts!