New Cheer Coach Ms. Megan Keeney hopes to make the cheerleaders more competitive.

Keeney, who teaches at Franklin Elementary in Pottstown and began coaching this fall,  is trying to teach the team a whole new scheme.

In previous years, cheerleaders have mainly shouted and danced at sports games and pep rallies. However, Ms. Keeney intends to change that. She has high hopes for the team and is training them hard to be able to compete in cheer competitions.

But with a large sophomore class and a smaller amount of upperclass cheerleaders, the team feels they all need a little more work as a group before they go in front of judges, so they won’t compete until at least next year,

Every coach has their niche that they try to emphasize in any sport. Coach Keeney said hers is “definitely clean work and not being sloppy. It needs to look good without just going through the motions.”

It is work like this that will help this team grow together and get them to the point they can compete, she said.

Mrs. Keeney is using her three years of coaching experience for the Optimist Cheerleading club and her personal cheer experience to help this team  be the greatest it can be. She has cheered since 8th grade, including for Parkland High School, Penn State and Wilkes University.

Although cheer has been a big part of coach Keeney’s life, she did a lot of other things as a kid. She has raced cars, has been classically trained in ballet, and danced competitively in Walt Disney World. She said she loves to travel all around the U.S.

Not only is Keeney trying to revamp the team on a competitive basis, but she is also trying to get the team involved in the community. She had the team host a free two-day stunt clinic for the Optimist Cheerleaders club. The team also will group together to donate food at the end of their season to a local food bank or shelter.

She said, “I’d like them to get involved with the community, so the community can get involved with cheer.”