Martinsville HS cheer club brings school spirit
MARTINSVILLE, Ind. — Do you follow Martinsville sports? So do these students. They are part of the High School Club called “The Red Blue Crew”. The Red Blue Crew is led by the Varsity Cheer Coach, Jennifer Cheatham. I asked Mrs. Cheatham how the club came about.
“The student section wanted to name themselves kind of like the college student sections do,” Mrs. Cheatham said, “ So, that is where the “Red Blue Crew” began”. Mrs. Cheatham oversees the club but each year she selects a few seniors to run the day- to- day happenings.“ Each year there are a few juniors who express interest in being the leaders of the Red Blue Crew – usually the ones who attend most of the games and really enjoyed being in the student section.”
The leaders are in charge of coming up with the themes for games and coordinating new chants and cheers with the cheerleaders. “At the games, the leaders help the student section get fired up as well as lead them with chants,” according to Mrs. Cheatham. “ They also help the younger students learn the rules and rules of the student section. They do a great job in making sure that the student section is cleaned up before they leave and have received recognitions from several different schools on how well they do that.”
I think it’s important to note, one rule they teach the younger students is that the seniors are on the several lower rows of the stands. They are not shy about asking the under-classmen to move up. “Seniors have earned the lower rows.”
These leaders also have the responsibility of running the school’s social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram. They push out information about when games take place and what the game “theme” is. Early in the year the leaders come up with themes for each game and the student section will dress in that theme. For example, they might dress in Red, or have a Construction theme, American theme, Gold out, Pink, White out and of course you have to paint your face in that color. It’s another way for the kids to come together and support the team.
One of the 2022-2023 Red Blue Crew leaders is Alyssa Etter. “Since middle school, I’ve been going to Friday Night Lights and always loved seeing high schoolers dress up,” Alyssa related. “ I’ve always wanted to be the one who decides the themes for sports. Dressing in the theme is the most fun part of the game.
“I love it that the students come together, dress up and cheer for the Artesian teams. Each week I have students ask me about the theme for the upcoming week or who we play but other than that people usually just wait for Red Blue Crew to post on social media. I work almost every day with Krisyon Capshaw, a varsity cheerleader, and Mrs. Cheatham to brainstorm ideas on how to make theme and chants so much more fun. Of course we had to teach the new principal, Mr. Bell, the ‘Artie Rumble’ cheer and several others. It’s so much fun when he gets involved and leads the student section!”
Martinsville’s student section is on the quest to get the spirit banner from AC WISH-TV. Alyssa came across other schools posting about their school spirit and wanted the Martinsville student section to be involved and to get noticed. “We are in Zone 8 and go against many other school in Indiana,” Alyssa pointed out. She posts often on Twitter and tags Anthony Calhoun with Wish-TV (#ACwishtv, #wewantthebanner, #thezone8) to get the school noticed. “We are going for the Wish TV Spirit banner. We’ve been top 8 for school spirit 3 times so far and have also received a visit from Anthony Calhoun. Our student section was recognized for our spirit. We want to show everyone that even though we are a small school we bring love to our sports and we sure bring the Artie spirit wherever we go!”
You can find us on Twitter @ARTIEREDBLUE and on Instagram @ARTIEREDBLUECREW. Follow our happenings and school spirit!!!! GO ARTIES!!!!
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