IDABEL CHEER
Princessai John is on a mission to reshape and innovate the cheer program at Idabel High School. An Idabel alum, John has been associated with the cheer program for 11 years, but this is her first year as head coach.
“I wanted to rebuild our program from the ground up so that no matter what a person’s cheer background might be, they would not be intimidated into not trying out, “said John. “I wanted more team involvement in how things run this year, so instead of team captains, I divided the team into committees so more people would have a say. We have a diverse group of cheerleaders with multiple nationalities, class presidents, athletes, and band members all of whom are not afraid to step out of their comfort zone.”
You see that in some of the things they’ve instituted at the football games to interact with the fans.
“We’ve implemented some games for the fans on Friday nights. One of those is our Dice Game where we throw a big set of inflatable dice into the stands. The fans throw them back and whatever number comes up, the cheerleaders have to do that many pushups, sit-ups or tumbles,” said John.
One of John’s prize examples of the changing times in Idabel cheer is freshman Khloe Impson.
“Khloe is the only freshman out of 20 that is on the front line during cheers which is pretty rare for a freshman,” said John. “She is on our social media committee and comes up with ideas like having our football players and cheer members go to our elementary schools and open doors for car riders and spread some school spirit. She’s president of her class and mature beyond her age.”
Khloe has a competitive dance background and has performed with her group at places like Disney World and Branson.
“I’ve been cheering since seventh grade but when I got to high school and it was time to try out, I was really nervous and excited, but I made it and later that summer when coach John called my name to be on the front line, I was over the moon excited,” she exclaimed.
Idabel competed in Game Day this year and hopes to get into OSSAA competitive cheer in the future.
