When most of us think about Friday nights at the Pinelands, our attention naturally turns to the action on the football field. But along the sidelines is another group of Jeff Davis athletes putting in countless hours of preparation of their own. Cheerleading has changed tremendously over the years. While today’s cheerleaders still carry the important responsibility of building school spirit and supporting their fellow Yellow Jackets, the athletic demands of the sport have grown to include strength training, tumbling, stunting, choreography and competition — all requiring tremendous skill, trust and teamwork.
And for the Jeff Davis cheerleaders, their role reaches well beyond Friday nights. From competition and Game Day cheer to mentoring younger athletes and serving throughout the school and community, there is much more happening behind the scenes than most of us ever get to see.
Jeff Davis Cheer Coach Beth Davis recently gave Hazlehurst Now an inside look at today’s cheerleading program, the work these athletes put in and just how much the sport has changed. We are pleased to share her article, “Not Your Mama’s Cheerleading,” in its entirety below.
Not Your Mama’s Cheerleading
By Coach Beth Davis
Football still centers on advancing the ball into the end zone. Basketball is still about putting the ball through the hoop, and baseball still comes down to hitting, fielding and crossing home plate. The rules and strategies of those sports have certainly evolved, but the games themselves would still be recognizable to the parents and grandparents who once played them. Cheerleading, however, has undergone a transformation unlike almost any other high school activity.
The cheerleading many people remember consisted primarily of standing on the sideline, leading the crowd and supporting the players on the field or court. Those responsibilities remain an important part of the job—but today, they are only one part of it.
Modern cheerleaders are sideline leaders, performers and competitive athletes. They tumble, jump, stunt, dance and lift other athletes overhead, all while maintaining precise timing, strong technique and a smile. They must build the strength of weightlifters, the flexibility of dancers, the body control of gymnasts and the trust of a team whose members quite literally place their safety in one another’s hands. Simply put, this is not your mama’s cheerleading.
That evolution is evident in the work being done by the Jeff Davis High School and Middle School cheerleading programs. Long before the first football game and well before the first competition, these athletes were already spending their summer conditioning, lifting weights, learning choreography, developing tumbling skills and building stunt groups.
The Jeff Davis cheerleaders do not prepare for just one season or one type of performance. They are responsible for leading school spirit on Friday nights, performing at pep rallies and community events, supporting other athletic programs and representing their schools throughout the year. At the same time, they train for traditional competition cheerleading in the fall and Game Day competition later in the year.
Traditional competition routines combine tumbling, jumps, dance, cheer and increasingly difficult stunts and pyramids into a fast-paced routine in which every movement is scored. Game Day competition tests a different side of the sport. Teams must respond to a simulated game situation and demonstrate the same crowd-leading skills they use under the Friday night lights.
Preparing athletes for all of those responsibilities requires much more than simply learning a few cheers. During summer practices, the Jeff Davis cheerleaders divided their time among strength training, conditioning, tumbling, stunt technique, competition choreography, Game Day material and sideline preparation. They also worked on the communication, accountability and trust required to become one team.
That trust is especially important in cheerleading. A stunt cannot succeed because one athlete performs well. Every person in the group must know her responsibility, execute it at the correct moment and trust that the others will do the same. The same is true of the entire program: every athlete contributes to the team’s success, whether she is leading a cheer from the front row, supporting a flyer in the air or performing on the competition floor.
The program’s responsibilities also extend beyond practices, games and competitions. Friday mornings, Jeff Davis cheerleaders sell spirit items to Pre-K through fifth-grade students from 7:15 until 7:45 a.m. before classes begin. These weekly spirit sales allow the cheerleaders to interact with younger Yellow Jackets and help build school pride throughout the district.
The cheer program will also host the 2026 Jeff Davis Homecoming Parade on Thursday, October 8. This responsibility gives the cheerleaders an opportunity to help bring together students, families, alumni and community organizations for one of the district’s most celebrated traditions.
In addition, the high school cheerleaders serve as coaches and role models for younger athletes through the Junior Jackets Cheer program. By teaching cheers, motions, jumps and foundational skills, they are helping develop the next generation of Jeff Davis cheerleaders while learning patience, responsibility and leadership themselves.
These activities are not simply additions to an already busy schedule. They are an important part of the program’s purpose. Cheerleaders are expected to serve as ambassadors for their schools, encourage school spirit across grade levels and set an example for the younger students who look up to them.
As the season continues, the community will see the Jeff Davis cheerleaders on the sidelines, at pep rallies, in the stands, at competitions and throughout the community. Behind every appearance are hours of training, repetition, preparation and teamwork that most spectators never see. Cheerleading may still begin with school spirit, but it no longer ends there. Today’s cheerleaders are competitors, coaches, community leaders and athletes in every sense of the word.
The 2026-2027 program is led by seniors Jayda Dawson, Anyston Jones and Shunia Kirby and coached by Stephanie Beecher, Addi Davis, Beth Davis and Katie Medders.
