The cheer squad consists of the player’s buddies who they were partnered up with at the start of the season. The Pacer’s Director of Coaching created the buddy program to encourage the senior players to give back their junior counterparts, to offer mentorship and support, on and off the court. Each senior player were allocated a junior player and required to attend two trainings and two games of their junior buddy, with the long term hope that lasting relationships would form across the club, to help create an inclusive and positive culture. Little did the club know the impact the buddy program would have on the junior girls and the Youth Women's team.
From the outset the junior and Youth League Women (YLW) players hit it off instantly and friendships blossomed, so did the cheer squad every week. The junior girls and their parents became regulars in the crowd at both home and away games supporting the YLW.
Paul O’Loughlin dad to two junior players said,’ I love seeing my daughters get excited to watch their buddies play every week. Not only is it exciting to watch the Youth Women play but it has also become bonding time within the junior teams as they chat about the game at training the next week, full of excitement.’
To further strengthen the bond between the girls, several of the YLW players are also coaching the junior girls-Athansaia Theochari and Rani Taylor coach the 16.1 girls and Tess Paterson assists her father coaching the 12.1 girls team.
Fast forward to the finals and the YLW Pacers were hosting Mornington in the Preliminary Final, the Pacers cheer squad were in full force giving their team the confidence and support to take on Mornington. It was close to a full house at Mill Park stadium as the cheer squad brought out their secret weapons- pool noodles, streamers and face paint! The atmosphere was electric, and the support lifted the team to bring home a comfortable win.
What an amazing example of how girls supporting girls can offer so much on and off the court!
