If you’ve ever been to a Wenatchee High School football game, chances are you’ve seen them. They wear uniforms, they chant, they pump up the crowd, and through hard work and dedication, they help to lead the team to victory. They aren’t the varsity football team — no, they are WHS Cheer. Traditionally an all-female group of bubbly high schoolers, the team looks a little different now; for the first time in almost 10 years, there are male cheerleaders.

Junior Jayden Clark is a first year cheerleader who joined because cheerleading is “community active”.

“I can stay a part of the school, like I’m on the field and supporting the football players, and the athletes, but I’m also off the field supporting the community and other students,” Clark said.

Clark loves the family atmosphere of cheerleading, and says that it’s one of his favorite parts about being on the team.

“[My favorite thing about cheer is] the family, because we’re all together and we see someone fall and we’re like ‘oh hey what’s wrong?’,” Clark said. “It’s like, we know each other, because we’ve been together since April, and we all know each other, it’s like having a second family, or sometimes even a first family depending on your home situation.”

WHS Cheer coach and Dani Schafer-Cloke is excited to have a boy on the team. Not only does Clark provide extra support for stunting and a deeper voice for cheers, she said, but she also likes his “genuine appreciation for other people.”

“Jayden is so positive and enthusiastic! He’s got such a passion for everything,” Schafer-Cloke said. “Everyone really appreciates his energy and positivity.”

As part of the team, Clark joins his fellow cheerleaders not only on the sidelines of the football games, but also at cheer camp, and in competitions around the state.

“I am a back spot, or at least I was before I hurt my ankle. That’s when you pick the girls up. But I’m also a base, a side person. And as a guy, at the games, I stand on the side and shout the cheers.”

Although it has been a while since WHS has seen male cheerleaders, it is a welcome sight to see them on the sidelines of the football games. However, Clark said that the sport isn’t just a sport for girls, but for anyone — especially if you have a passion for cheer.

“Yeah, some people don’t want to do it because they’re like ‘it’s girly,’ but not me. I love it.”