APPLETON, Wis. — For over 50 years, the Fox Valley has had Pop Warner Football.
Now, for the first time, cheerleading is being offered to area youth through the program.
Lisa Richards has participated in cheerleading nearly all her life. So when her daughter did not have an outlet to cheer, she took matters into her own hands.
“We just noticed the lack of cheerleaders on the sidelines,” said Lisa Richards. “We’re hoping [to get] a good, solid feeder program, more in the middle schools, and in the high schools or in Neenah, which doesn’t have a cheer team at all.”
Lisa Richards and the girls practice twice a week. She said there are a lot of growing pains with being the first cheer program in the area.
“They have to attend their practices, they have to work hard,” said Lisa Richards. “They work on their chairs at home. It’s definitely a commitment, it’s definitely discipline and you being there for each other and to be there for your team.”
Ashlynn Richards is Lisa’s daughter. Ashlynn Richards said she initially gave her mom the idea to start a cheerleading team.
She said making new friends and cheering makes her happy.
“It just gets my body moving, and it expends my energy because I have so much energy every day,” Ashlynn Richards said.
Although this is Lisa Richard’s first year as cheer coach, she said she has big plans.
“We’re growing it, we’re putting it out there. We started small this year,” said Lisa Richards. “I would like to see it continue to grow. I would like to see all the girls out here have fun.”