Event information
Each cheer season is filled with a variety of events and activities - some come along with cheering at games but others fall outside or in addition to cheering. Below is an outline of the activities planned for the upcoming year , a brief description of each event, and how Boosters get involved.
The Aloha Pep Rally - late Spring
In Hawaiian, Aloha is a word used when greeting or parting from someone. The Aloha Pep Rally captures that spirit at IHS as we say "Aloha" to departing Seniors and incoming Freshman - both groups beginning new adventures on their respective journeys. For IHS Cheer it is the first Pep Rally our incoming Freshman squad gets to participate in as ALL Nelson and Scoggins 8th graders are invited to visit IHS! Pep Rally's are held in the main gym and it gets very, very full especially for this pep rally. Due to space constraints, students have priority over parents. If you decide to attend, you must sign in at the front office and then will be escorted to the gym once all students have been seated. Parents are also only allowed in one small corner of the gym and it is often difficult to see the squad at all. Be assured, there will be lots of pictures taken by coaches and the IHS yearbook staff who share with us. The date for the 2019 Aloha Pep Rally is the last week of school. Exact date TBD.
The SPRING Game - late Spring
The Spring Game is a fun way to pre-greet all students coming to join or coming back to IHS! It is an opportunity for the squad to cheer together for the first time in front of a crowd at a football game. Several football scrimmage games are played by boys athletics and the event is held at the IHS football stadium. The Spring Game is being held on Tuesday, May 22nd. So put on your purple gear and support our cheerleaders!
Cheer Camp - summer
Cheer Camp is an annual event and generally held at a local University sponsored by either NCA or UCA. The purpose of camp is to learn new skills, sharpen old ones, and just generally allow the girls opportunity to bond as a team. Days are long and girls are very active the entire time. From a Booster perspective, we try to make camp a bit sweeter organizing late evening meals, snacks for rooms, spirit decorations for their dorms etc. Camp is an overnight event usually spanning 4 days. This year's camp will be at TCU in Fort Worth from July 23rd through July 26th. On the last day, parents are encouraged to come as shows offs and awards are presented.
The Rumble - Late Summer
The Rumble is a long standing tradition at IHS. Held in August usually before school starts, the Rumble is a series of football games for the new Freshman, JV, and Varsity Football teams. It is also a great opportunity to welcome new Freshman and their families to IHS. Each Booster club will usually set up a tent or booth to help new students and parents learn what it is available at IHS. It is also a prime opportunity for Boosters to fundraise. Shirts, cups, hats, bags, etc. are all up for sale, concessions are open, etc. It is a fun time to meet new faces and get the kids comfortable with IHS. IHS Cheer Boosters will have a booth and selling a variety of IHS branded merchandise. Booster support includes manning the booth. We like to trade off so that when the Freshman Football team is playing, JV or Varsity parents man the booth and vice versa. This way each parent gets to see their daughter cheer. The date for the 2019 Rumble will be sometime in August.
Pink Out Football Game - Fall
In observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, schools around the US to include FISD, identify one football game in October as their official Pink Out game. In addition to the players showing their pink support on the field, IHS Cheer participates in several ways. Girls cheer with pink pom poms, usually wear special pink out socks, Pink Out bows, and a special Pink Out Shirt, This game is also a "fundraiser" for the National Breast Cancer Foundation in that proceeds are donated by IHS Cheer Booster to the NBCF. Special pink t-shirts are printed and available for purchase by the student body, parents and, of course our cheerleaders/mascots. Booster support comes in the form of selling shirts during school lunch times over the course of 2-3 days. Boosters may also decide to sell the shirts at the football game that evening which requires volunteers to help.
HYDROCEPHAlus walk, gary burns fun run & Heroes for Children 5k- FALL
Serving our community is part of what our girls do. Walks, Fun Runs, and 5K's are largely organized by the Coaches and require our girls to show up in their uniforms and cheer on walkers and/or runners. When scheduled, they will be on cheer calendars and the cheerleaders will know what to wear, where to be, and what time.
Homecoming - Fall
Homecoming is very clearly the biggest activity during the football season. Homecoming week and the weeks leading up to it are filled with a frenzy of activity. From Homecoming themes to sign painting parties to the pep rally to decorating the school, the IHS Cheer Boosters are very busy during this time and really benefit from having all "hands on deck." While the actual homecoming for each school in FISD is different and rotates, Homecoming usually happens between the months of October and November.
Homecoming Themes & Decorating
Each year, IHS identified a different theme for Homecoming. That theme extends to all aspects of Homecoming or HOCO as it is often referred to. From an the IHS Cheer perspective, our girls are expected to paint special HOCO spirit signs/banners, decorate the foyer/library area of the school, plan the pep rally décor, etc. This takes lots of hands and so naturally, Boosters are part of the effort. In 2017, the theme was No Place Like Hime - play on words with Home but the "I" stood for Independence. This nod to the Wizard of Oz was repeated throughout our decorations. Decorating for Homecoming is usually done over a weekend in time for HOCO week.
Homecoming Locker Decorating
Decorating the cheer locker room for our girls has been a tradition for quite some time. Lockers are decorated in a variety of ways, sometimes with cute cups or chocolate or treats or special hair bows. Balloons, streamers, positive messaging are all part of the fun and spirit.
Homecoming in Texas
Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back former students and celebrating a school's existence. In Texas and a few other states, Homecoming takes on another level of festivity. The Homecoming Mum and Garter. If you are not from Texas originally, you are in for a treat to amaze and stun the eye! Below is a quick excerpt from our friends at the Mum Shop in Plano...
The NCAA recognizes the University of Missouri as the official place of birth of homecoming. In 1911, Mizzou athletic director Chester Brewer encouraged alumni to attend the game, and he gave them incentive to attend by having a huge celebration around the game that included parades and rallies. At some point not too long after this first homecoming celebration in Missouri, the tradition of a boy giving a chrysanthemum to his homecoming date as a corsage was born in Texas. For decades, mums were simple, comprised of just a small flower with perhaps a few ribbons.
In the 1970s, homecoming mums became more elaborate and have continued to grow to the mammoth size they are today. Now they include a huge flower (albeit a silk flower has replaced the real chrysanthemum as the centerpiece), tons of large ribbons, charms, bows, bells, cowbells, stuffed animals, perhaps the high school mascot, and even LED lights in some cases! Even guys have their own version of the mum, called the garter – an elastic band worn around the upper arm that has the same features as the mum only on a much smaller scale.
Big or small, lit or not, the tradition of the mum is fun. Whether a boy is the one giving the mum to their date or Mom/Dad are presenting one to their daughter for her 1st Homecoming, mums are a great spirit tradition! On occasion, some boosters have gotten together to make mums for their cheerleaders. On the day of the game, girls will wear their mums all day and then at the game will hang their mums together while they cheer at the game. Freshman through Juniors will sport mums in school colors while Senior mums are traditionally White and Silver.
Homecoming Themes & Decorating
Each year, IHS identified a different theme for Homecoming. That theme extends to all aspects of Homecoming or HOCO as it is often referred to. From an the IHS Cheer perspective, our girls are expected to paint special HOCO spirit signs/banners, decorate the foyer/library area of the school, plan the pep rally décor, etc. This takes lots of hands and so naturally, Boosters are part of the effort. In 2017, the theme was No Place Like Hime - play on words with Home but the "I" stood for Independence. This nod to the Wizard of Oz was repeated throughout our decorations. Decorating for Homecoming is usually done over a weekend in time for HOCO week.
Homecoming Locker Decorating
Decorating the cheer locker room for our girls has been a tradition for quite some time. Lockers are decorated in a variety of ways, sometimes with cute cups or chocolate or treats or special hair bows. Balloons, streamers, positive messaging are all part of the fun and spirit.
Homecoming in Texas
Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back former students and celebrating a school's existence. In Texas and a few other states, Homecoming takes on another level of festivity. The Homecoming Mum and Garter. If you are not from Texas originally, you are in for a treat to amaze and stun the eye! Below is a quick excerpt from our friends at the Mum Shop in Plano...
The NCAA recognizes the University of Missouri as the official place of birth of homecoming. In 1911, Mizzou athletic director Chester Brewer encouraged alumni to attend the game, and he gave them incentive to attend by having a huge celebration around the game that included parades and rallies. At some point not too long after this first homecoming celebration in Missouri, the tradition of a boy giving a chrysanthemum to his homecoming date as a corsage was born in Texas. For decades, mums were simple, comprised of just a small flower with perhaps a few ribbons.
In the 1970s, homecoming mums became more elaborate and have continued to grow to the mammoth size they are today. Now they include a huge flower (albeit a silk flower has replaced the real chrysanthemum as the centerpiece), tons of large ribbons, charms, bows, bells, cowbells, stuffed animals, perhaps the high school mascot, and even LED lights in some cases! Even guys have their own version of the mum, called the garter – an elastic band worn around the upper arm that has the same features as the mum only on a much smaller scale.
Big or small, lit or not, the tradition of the mum is fun. Whether a boy is the one giving the mum to their date or Mom/Dad are presenting one to their daughter for her 1st Homecoming, mums are a great spirit tradition! On occasion, some boosters have gotten together to make mums for their cheerleaders. On the day of the game, girls will wear their mums all day and then at the game will hang their mums together while they cheer at the game. Freshman through Juniors will sport mums in school colors while Senior mums are traditionally White and Silver.
unique pep rally's - fall/spring
Through the cheer season, the girls will perform at IHS Pep Rallies which they organize and with the assistance of the Coaches, choreograph. While Boosters don't necessarily have direct involvement in every pep rally, we are called upon sometimes to help with making bows, acquiring décor, supply accessories, etc. There are five special pep rallies - "Aloha", "Purple Out", "Pink Out", "Winter", and "Black Out". The Aloha is covered above -= the remaining four are as follows:
- Purple Out - usually the very first pep rally after the school year begins - everyone wears, well, purple.
- Pink Out - October is Breast Cancer awareness month and the girls usually wear pink bows and pink accessories.
- Winter - the Winter pep rally celebrates just that - winter
- Black Out - the last pep rally of the year - done in the dark
- Purple Out - usually the very first pep rally after the school year begins - everyone wears, well, purple.
- Pink Out - October is Breast Cancer awareness month and the girls usually wear pink bows and pink accessories.
- Winter - the Winter pep rally celebrates just that - winter
- Black Out - the last pep rally of the year - done in the dark
Frisco Community Parade - FALL
The Frisco Community Parade is usually held in November, around Veterans Day. All FISD High Schools participate - Cheer, Band, Drill Team, Football. The Parade is held in downtown Frisco and very well attended. Boosters participate by creating a float for the cheer team, decked out in purple and black, the girls, mascots, and manager hands out candy to the crowd.
mid-knight madness - fall
Mid-Knight Madness is a chance for elementary and middle schoolers to play scrimmage basketball at IHS. Varsity Basketball is there and helps the kids to have a good time. The event usually begins around 6pm and goes until midnight. Cheer performs a routine and band dance. Boosters roll is straight up parent support - no special activities other than the squad performing.