Powderpuff has been an event at THS since 1999 as part of its many Homecoming events. Male cheerleaders for powderpuff are something new that just started around two years ago. On the Thursday before Homecoming, girls of all grades played flag football, while boys in their grades coached them in the days leading up to it. In the 2022–23 school year, a group of boys opted to cheer for the games. That has now become an official part of the event for the 2024–25 school year, where many boys of all grades signed up to have cheerleaders coach them.
“I think it’ll be fun to teach them how to stunt and everything,” junior Trinity Liggett said before the event.
Practice for the cheerleaders was up to their grade coaches, who also decided what cheers and stunts they were doing. Each grade’s coaches taught the cheerleaders their own cheers and stunts for Thursday. However, the inclusion of stunts raised questions about safety.
“We don’t know for sure if we’re allowed to do stunting, because sometimes it can get unsafe if they aren’t careful,” sophomore Zoie Byler said before the event.
Many of the cheerleaders did it either because they wanted to support the game or because they found it funny. Many cheerleaders said before the event that they were excited for the games and ready to get the crowd hyped up. Senior Scott Layne said that it was hard to try to learn the cheers and stunts in such a short amount of time and that he was going in essentially blind but still ready to get the crowd excited.
The main goal of being a cheerleader is “to get everyone riled up and scream as loud as you can,” Layne said.
The cheerleaders did many stunts at the game, including first floors, a basket toss, and thigh stands. They also did chants such as the devil rumble, red-hot, and big blue in order to get the crowd hyped up. Many said that they are excited to do it next year and support powderpuff again, either because they enjoyed cheering or because they liked being a part of the event.
“I think it should be a yearly thing because it gives people who don’t really have the knowledge or want to be coaches still be able to be involved,” junior Preston Schrock said.
