Supporting our peers is part of the high school experience. It builds a strong community of positive encouragement. The Owatonna Cheerleading squad is not a sport dedicated to themselves, it is a sport that works hard to bring the fans and energy to football games during all seasons of the year for various sports.

The Owatonna Cheerleading squad last year, along with every other squad that cheered at the 2016 state football tournament received state patch certificates from the MSHSL. The Cheerleading squad will receive certificates again this season, after the football team won participated in state again. Whether or not if they will purchase the patch is up to each of the cheerleaders. Owatonna Cheerleader Olivia Ahlberg said, “We realize that the football players are the ones who won state, but we have been by their side the whole time. The patches we get specifically say “Cheerleading” and are designed for cheerleaders so we are getting a patch that lets everyone know that we were cheering, not playing football.” They show that the cheerleaders did not receive them because they won the most games, but instead that they were there at every game on the sidelines energizing the fans and the players. Owatonna Cheerleader Hunter Zempel said, “We understand that the football players do a lot of the work to get us where we go and keep our season going, but the cheerleaders work just as hard to get the fans, the parents, and the whole school motivated to come to the games and be excited about the games.”

The decision has been made by MSHSL to give every cheerleader who cheered at the state football tournament a certificate, so the point is moot. Some cheerleaders say, “We use our time, our money and our resources to make and do these things for them because we think they deserve it. We are proud of them, and we want to support them and it kind of sucks that they do not return the favor.” The cheerleaders work hard just like every other sport at the OHS, and everything that they do is for the football players. Although indirectly this work does help the football team win.