The Blessed Sacrament Cheerleaders Squad A coach reflects on their first season
By Elizabeth Landry, Staff writer
You may have seen the story from our recent March 13 issue about the 2024-25 Blessed Sacrament cheerleaders. But did you know that interest from the girls at Blessed Sacrament School was so strong that not one but two cheerleading teams were formed?
It’s true — there was Squad B, featured in our previous story, and Squad A as well. Cathy Abbot, head coach for Squad A, shared that a total of 21 students in grades three through five were interested in becoming cheerleaders, and that even though they had varying levels of skill, they were all incredibly enthusiastic and gave it their all.
“For not having a [cheerleading] program at all for 20-plus years, and then bringing it back and having 21 girls [sign up], it was awesome,” she said. “They pushed themselves to learn, to grow and to be able to do the things they couldn’t do. Their energy, their heart, their spirit, their drive — these girls came from the start, ready to go and ready to learn,” she said.
Abbott had been a cheerleader at Bishop Grimes and she said she drew a lot of inspiration for the Eagles’ cheers from her days cheering on the Cobras. She explained that the cheerleaders’ spirit made a difference for the third and fourth grade boys’ basketball teams on the court, as well as for those in the stands.
“Every game I would have a parent or a coach come up and compliment me on how well [the girls] did, how energetic they were, how they got the crowd going,” said Abbot. “And for some of the boys — they had never played basketball before. So I think [it was great] just having the girls cheering for them and encouraging them.”
Reflecting on the season, Abbott said the squad’s success all came down to the girls’ love of learning the sport: “They just wanted to be there, they wanted to have fun. It just made it such an enjoyable experience for me to be there, to be their coach.”
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2025-05-05 17:08:00 , The Catholic Sun , Two, four, six, eight — two cheerleading squads celebrate!