Most sports fans have an idea of the hard work and dedication it takes to play a high school sport, but they may not have a clue as to all that goes into being a cheerleader.Each spring at FHS tryouts are held for the next fall's varsity and junior varsity cheer squads. Candidates are judged by their performance of a new cheer, a dance routine, and spirit and jumps.
"We look for leaders in both our school and community," Tiger cheer coach Nancy Stein said. "When they wear the uniform and are appearing in public they are held to a higher standard."
Stein said that at FHS everyone who tries out is placed on either the varsity or junior varsity based on their tryout scores.
Pre-school captains' practices start in late June and in July the team attends a summer camp. Daily pre-season practices begin in mid-August and after school starts, the girls practice three days a week in preparation for that week's game.
In addition to football, the cheerleading squads also perform for boys and girls basketball and wrestling.
The Minnesota State High School League formerly classified cheerleading as a sport, but has since designated it as an "activity". Regardless of the semantics, Stein, the FHS cheer coach since 2007, said her protegees are definitely athletes.
"Executing stunts like elevators, full extensions and basket tosses take many hours of practice and skills," she said.
The Tiger cheerleaders don't routinely take part in "competitions", but at their Universal Cheerleaders Association summer camp they do get to match talents with other schools. At last year's competition, Farmington won the first place prize in Home Dance and Cheer and placed second in Extreme Routine.
Because of that strong showing, the girls received a bid to perform at the 2011 Capital One Bowl football game in Orlando, Florida in January.
Members of the 2010 varsity Tiger Cheer Team include captains Alexa Behnke, Lindsay Brothers, Meagan Peterson and Julie Tang; Erin Suppes, Kelsey King, Aleah Williams, Alaura Fried, Ashlie Tisland, Ashley Fogarty, Sarah Burke, Nora Lenz, Tabitha Payne, Heather Torkelson, Emily Olsson, Layce Arleth, Marra Tietz, Alyssa Nelson, Hallie Jenkins and Rachel Thornberg.
Cheryl Wetterlind, Sadie Brewer, Brea Metzger, Britney Moreno, Hannah Wynn, Nasiba Nurmatova, Krista Stranger and Hannah Lundquist make up the junior varsity team.
Stein has two assistant coaches to help her with the cheer team, Bailey Martin and Teresa Stein, both former Tiger cheerleaders.
