With stunning backflips and pretty smiles a cheerleading team may not appear to be a tough crew but after looking into what it takes, your opinion might change. Without an offseason the cheerleaders are working hard day in and day out.

“Training to become a cheerleader requires a lot of conditioning and stretching and learning all of the correct techniques from coaches and teammates to be safe and make everything look good,” said Smoky Hills Cheerleading Co-Captain Jordan Ramsay.

With a constant practice schedule It almost seems like every cheerleader has had some injury in the past if there not injured already. According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, “High school cheerleading accounted for 65.1 percent of all catastrophic sports injuries among high school females over the past 25 years.”

Just this school year, numerous Smoky Hill cheerleaders are feeling the pain. Mikayla Alderton is currently in boot after falling hard hurting her left ankle while performing. Alderton suffered a concussion earlier in the year as well. Her head injury didn’t just affect her but the entire stunt group including Ramsay and Sophia Miller (Aldertons bases) both received concussion during the same stunt. Ryin Esgro is about to have surgery Feb. 14 after dislocating her knee cap doing a back handspring and landing wrong.

So the question remains, why are they doing this? Even though Esgro has little experience she embraced the spirit quickly.

“I guess it’s just like any other sport, you do it because you love it. Connecting with a team, working out, and competing is the best thing in the world,” said Esgro.

The passion the cheerleaders have for there sport is the same if not more than the athletes they cheer for. So next time your at a Smoky Hill basketball game, make sure you don’t look past your tough and brave Cheerleaders.