Sahuaro’s Cheer Team is officially under new leadership as the four new Cheer Captains, Amyra Perry-Fultz, Kirsten Weisbrod, Erick Reyes, and Rheagan Sandoval have been chosen for this school year!

Sitting on the bleachers watching the cheer team perform their routines met with the sound of the band’s well-rehearsed songs during football breaks was an experience. Now without the ability to meet on the field or in the gymnasium, cheer has had to put in the extra time and effort to be able to train and plan future routines amongst the plethora of technical difficulties. Nevertheless, we’re all doing the best we can to work through a pandemic, so meet the captains making cheer work this year!

Since becoming Cheer Captain, Erick Reyes has become the first male cheer captain at Sahuaro in twelve years. Erick, whose biggest accomplishment is becoming cheer captain, was driven to joining cheer by his friends’ encouragement. “At my former high school, Palo Verde, my friends gave me the push I needed to do cheer, and I fell in love with it. I would have never thought cheer would affect my life so much, but I’ve truly found something I love doing. When I moved to Sahuaro in the beginning of my junior year, I knew I had to try out. I ended up making the team, and I gained so much more than a family with my teammates and coach,” Erick gushed. When he graduates, Erick plans to study elementary education and become a teacher.

Amyra Perry-Fultz has always been inspired by cheerleaders and now she is not only a cheerleader, but a captain too! “The University of Arizona cheer team is what definitely inspired me to be a cheerleader. I went to a couple of the UofA games and I would always see the prettiest cheerleaders tumbling and throwing stunts and I always knew that was something I wanted to pursue,” she said. Going to sports games inspired her to do not only cheer, but also participate in basketball and track at Sahuaro. But the one thing that she will never forget no matter how far she goes in her life, is the joy that filled her up watching the cheerleaders perform, “I felt the joy that cheer brought to me, so I wanted to bring other people joy like the way they did for me.” After high school, Amyra plans on going into the Air Force and becoming an allergist.

Rheagan Sandoval, gymnast and cheerleader, is the third cheer captain of the team. For six years, Rheagan trained in gymnastics; then in high school, she joined cheer to use some of those same skills in the sport. “What really drove me to cheer besides the gymnastics skills I had already picked up was the desire to be involved in school activities. I didn’t want to just come to school, do my work, then leave every day. Football games, pep rallies, and hall marches always looked super fun and I wanted to be a part of it. I made so many great friends in cheer and I wouldn’t have done anything else differently,” she said. After high school, Rheagan plans on going to an out-of-state college and studying either economics or something in the science field, then going to graduate school.

The fourth cheer captain, Kirsten Weisbrod has yet to reach out.

Due to Covid-19, the football schedule has been shortened, but cheer still keeps their hopes up for basketball season.

Here’s to a good cheer season!🥂