By Derrick Smith 

Cheer teams require a lot of different pieces to come together for the same goal. If team chemistry is off, the team may not be as successful as they could have been. The Bishop Kelley cheer team makes it a point to do things in order to help grow their bond and unity and it has worked. 

“Every summer we have a retreat at the Ritchie Ranch,” said Bishop Kelley head cheer coachKatherine Devonshire. “We all stay there for a week and do all sorts of fun things including choreography, team building and games. We also host our mini camp in the summer at Bishop Kelley. We love working with the kids all week teaching them new things. It’s one of our favorite things to do as a team.” 

All the time they spend focusing on the team as a whole and growing together has paid off for the Lady Comets and they have the hardware to prove it. 

“Our team loves competing and has won two state titles at the OSSAA Game Day Competition,” Devonshire said. “Last year our squad took home the Academic Award at state as well. Although we love competing we also like to be on the sidelines having fun and performing half time dances.” 

Coach Devonshire is in her fourth year leading the cheer team, but has been with the program for seven years overall. She says that her squad enjoys spending time together and hanging out, but when the time comes to put in the work, they are not afraid of doing what it takes. 

“Our squad works really hard and pushes each other to be the best versions of themselves both in the gym and outside the gym,” she said. “We also work to maintain positivity.” 

As a whole, the team says that their favorite thing to do is getting the crowd excited and seeing them cheer with them. They also enjoy doing their halftime performances, which they work really hard on.