De Soto High School had their cheer meeting for the 2016 – 17 season on March 23 with an unexpected turn out of boys who were considering trying out for the team.

Until this past year, DHS had never had a yell leader on the team before. Freshman Zekkiah Hird was the first one to break that trend.

“I think that’s it’s pretty cool that I was the first boy to ever be on the team, but it would be cool to have more guys too,” Hird said.

Nine boys attended the recent cheer informational meeting, the highest amount of boys that DHS has ever had show interest in being a yell leader.

“I think being on the cheer team would be a lot of fun because of the stunting,” junior Colton Pasquale said. “Lifting people up in the air would be so awesome.”

Although many came, some of the boys did not understand how much they would have to devote to be a cheerleader and, after the meeting, decided that they no longer wanted to do it.

“After looking at the prices and the time commitment it involves, it’s not as appealing to me as it was before,” sophomore Kyler Gish said. “I don’t think I’m going to do it next year. Most of that is because of how expensive it can be.”

With any addition of boys to the team, many things would change. They could possibly add elements to their routines that involve a higher skill level they’ve never been able to showcase before.

“I think that having more guys on the team could possibly help our stunting score at competitions because we would be able to add the component of partner stunting,” freshman Aylin Rocha said.

While most cheerleaders want the new guys to join the team because of the additional things that they’d bring to the table, some worry that they won’t put their full effort into the sport.

“I would encourage every guy that came to the meeting to try out but if they aren’t going to take it seriously, they shouldn’t put their focus into cheer because it’s a time consuming sport,” Hird said.

According to Rocha, she agrees that as long as the yell leaders that came to the meeting truly want to work as hard as everyone else, they would be a great addition to the team.

Overall, because of the amount of boys at the cheer informational meeting, big changes may come to the 2016 – 17 DHS cheer team.