Cameron cheerleaders teach the next generation as part of mini-clinic

Cameron High School cheerleaders hosted hundreds of future Lady Dragons for a mini cheer clinic before Monday’s junior varsity game against Benton. 

Hours of training culminated in hundreds of cheer campers taking to the hardwood at Kevin Nichols Court, inside the CHS gymnasium, where they performed multiple cheers often performed by their instructors each week. 

“This was our fifth year doing this, we did it before I was coach too, but we’re just getting back into doing things with bigger groups. It was a lot of fun,” CHS cheer coach Adriene Bickford said.

As part of the mini-clinic, CHS cheerleaders paired off the attendees by age group, then worked with them on the basics of cheerleading. Despite working with children more than 10 years younger than her, CHS cheer captain Jenessa Kirkendoll said they did well at learning the cheer lingo, routines and what to do before and after each cheer. 

“We did it for three hours. We got to teach them chants, jumps, just the basics of doing cheer. I know a lot of them from school. I’m a cadet teacher for first graders (at Parkview Elementary). I got to hang out with a lot of my first graders. It’s a lot of fun. I love being around kids. It gave me a lot of joy to teach them something I love,” Kirkendoll said. 

For Coach Bickford, the camp has an ancillary effect. While teaching the basics to the next generation of CHS cheerleaders is the goal, it also teaches the instructors how to work with large groups in the hopes they take on a role as a cheer coach once it’s time to hang up their pom-poms. 

“These older girls can get experience leading a group, teaching them things because they will be doing this in college or in charge of another group in another setting someday. It prepares them for other things outside of school,” Bickford said.