As the football games begin in the fall, so does the cheerleading season. Coached by Mrs. Gorman, the team is not only active on the sidelines spreading school spirit and interacting with the crowd, but too competes at the local, regional, and state levels.   

Jenise Gorman, the current Climate Culture and Resource Teacher at Plant, is not only a former Panther. She cheered for the team all four years of her high school, and enhanced her skills at the All-Star Cheer from a young age. This marks her 13th year as a cheer coach, and her 6th one as the head coach at Plant.  

“This season I am more excited than I have ever been. I have always had a good group of girls- we have always tried really hard to over the last 5, this will be my 6th year, to rebuild the culture and make cheer what it should be. So I took the time to find the right girls, and some might say that my tryout process is very tedious as there is an application process, they need to have teacher recommendations, good grades, and it is a long process. I have to make sure that I am finding the right people with the best intentions because a lot of people just want to be on the sidelines and wear the uniform, but I want girls who truly love the sport, so that’s why I have that really long process, and why I have the right group of girls this year who just work really hard,” Gorman said.  

But as cheerleading is a relatively new sport, being deemed a competitive one in Florida in 2007, there are obstacles that the team has to overcome.  

“The only difficult part is finding practice space, because unfortunately we don’t have a cheer gym, so we always have to practice in random locations, but despite those little obstacles, the girls are always out there working to be the best they can be,” Gorman said.  

As previously mentioned, cheerleading is much more than wearing a uniform and ruling the sidelines- Plant Cheerleaders participate in competitions and represent Plant at various events.   

“We are a competitive team, and that is when our sport comes in. We have four local competitions, a Western conference, Regionals, States, and we also compete at the National level. So we go to UCA, the Universal Cheerleaders Association, for regionals, and then nationals. Last year we were invited to a few other competitions, like Chase the State Cheer Competition, where we were runners-up, which is amazing for a first appearance. And at Chase the States those are all state finalists that come and compete to be invited to that, which was pretty cool. All in all, we have about 10 competitions per season,” Gorman said.  

Aside from being a coach, teacher, and a mom at home, Ms. Gorman likes to keep herself busy- whether it is creating content for Tik Tok, watching Friends, being a teacher consultant at the Tampa Bay Writing Project, or working on her podcast.  

“We have a cheer podcast- Matt Talk. Last year we wrapped up season 1, and while now we are on pause, I have some interviews coming up, and we will have season 2 released within the next six to eight months. We are going to go over sidelines and after competition season we will release another batch of recordings,” Gorman said.   

And while the season has just begun, Gorman has a positive vision of it.   

“I have never seen such a hardworking group of girls, so I am so excited!” Gorman said.   

https://www.instagram.com/plantcheerleading/