Danielle Friggle started cheering her sophomore year at Sahuaro High School and is now in her senior year… and one of Sahuaro’s head cheer captains.  She said being cheer captain is definitely a big job, but it’s fun. Along with the other three captains, Kailee Emmett, Kayla Conley, and Lexy Valencia; they are a strong force of women, working together to excel.  Currently, the team is getting ready for their first competition this Saturday at Mountain View HS. “Coach Kayla has us doing lots of conditioning – running and bleachers mostly – to build endurance.” The cheer team practices and works out Mondays through Thursdays, running, tumbling, and stunting (lifting girls in the air) for an hour each day.  On Fridays, they are on the field, cheering on the football team.

Danielle helps come up with new cheers and dances that the team ends up doing at games and competitions. Her favorite part about cheering is the bonds she forms with the team. “Cheer has made me more comfortable at Sahuaro.  It’s made me more confident in myself.” She says freshman year it was very hard for her to adjust and she didn’t have any one or any thing to motivate her to do good in school.  She was surrounded by not-the-greatest of people, so her grades went down. She was already scared going into her freshman year because of the things people had told her about it and the movies she watched about high school. Thankfully, cheer has provided her with another family and has motivated her to do well in school.  “Anyone can join cheer.  When I first tried out sophomore year, I had never cheered before.  You just have to be willing to try hard,  and constantly want to improve.” 

Being a senior she said has been “very stressful, because now I have to start applying for colleges and start thinking like an adult, but it’s been fun so far.”  To become a captain, one has to be a senior, and the votes are done anonymously over the summer.  Coach Kayla then interviews the winners and picks the team leaders.  this year, there are about 21 girls on the team.  “I would love to coach someday,” Danielle says.  “I’d like to share with younger people how amazing cheer is and give them the great experience I had because we have such great coaches.”

One of the best things that ever happened to Danielle was being blessed with an amazing family. Someone who really inspires her to do her best in school and in life is her mom – she is always there for her. Danielle’s plan after high school is to go to college and to major in Anatomy and Physiology, then when she finishes she would like to attend medical school.  If you are interested in becoming a cheerleader, all you need to do is reach out to a cheerleader or one of the captains.