Cheer team resumes practice under new guidelines

Cheer team resumes practice under new guidelines

Of stands and locker rooms. despite the impact of coronavirus on colleges across the nation and schools here at home, high school football season is still happening in north alabama but it's not just the football players and band members who are practicing right now -- cheer teams are hard at work, too.

Waay31's megan reyna joins us live outside westminster christian academy after visiting a practice to see what has changed in this close-contact sport.

Megan?

Here at westminister -- once they got the greenlight from the alabama high school athletic association to practice -- this cheer team didn't waste any time.

But of course -- several new safety procedures have to be followed to protect them from coronavirus.

Megan says:"what's different now?"

Criss says:"everything" coach jaime criss says it has been stressful making sure her kids can stay safe and do what they love nats cheer.

But she's confident the policies in place are allowing them to do just that.

Criss says:"the biggest change for us has been stunting wearing masks, so we're constantly having to take breaks so they can actually pull down their masks and breath."

And when the girls can stay six feet apart.

Nats the masks can come off.

Brown says:"oh shoot, i left my mask at home is like a real thing."

For senior and captain of the team taryn brown -- she was skeptical cheer would even happen this year.

Brown says:"it was definitely kind of scary, just like the unknown because we have never had to go through anything like this before."

Brown says the tryouts were held virtually.

Then the girls got to work.

And now criss is just hoping it all works out.

Criss says:"it's high pressure because we want to continue to cheer, we want to be here, we want to be safe."

Brown says:"at first i was a little concerned about how everything would work, but our coach has definitely made it a lot easier on us, making sure we wear our masks, make sure we stay apart when we get water, make sure we can continue doing what we love, so i think we're doing really good."

The first game for westminster is on friday august 28.

If things stay on course -- the cheerleaders