West Orange Observer: Sports Spotlight — Ella Morrow

A four-year member of the Dr. Phillips cheer team, Ella Morrow is taking in all she can in her final year with her squad. From being one of the youngest on the team as a freshman to her role as senior captain this year, Morrow loves being on both the sideline and the competition floor. 

How long have you been cheering?

I started cheering at DP Pop Warner actually — that was about eight years ago — and then I did All-Star cheerleading. Then when I started to go to Dr. Phillips freshman year I tried out for the cheerleading team, and I’ve been doing it ever since.

What’s been your favorite part about being on the Dr. Phillips cheer team?

Well, we have a pretty good football team, so it’s been awesome to see the journey that the football team has taken going to states and getting to have more field time with my best friends — all the girls on the cheer team, I love them all. And competition season, although it is super hectic, that is where we really bond the most, so that’s pretty cool.

What’s the hardest part about cheerleading? What’s the most fun part?

The hardest part about cheerleading is probably the routine itself when it is competition time — those routines are the best workout you can ever get. It’s two minutes and 30 seconds of putting everything you have on the mat. The best part is after you do your best performance on the competition floor and just knowing you put it all out there and you’re just crying and so happy after, and you know you got it in the bag.

Is there a highlight moment that stands out for you in your four years of cheer?

I would say my sophomore year at states. That week of practice, we had practice every day the week of a competition, and we were not doing well at practice — we could not hit our routine. When we got to states, we had to perform twice — we performed at 8 a.m., and we made it on to the second round out of three teams. We performed our second routine — at 8 p.m. — after changing  basically everything in our routine … and hit our routine.

What has been the biggest change you’ve seen in yourself since you first started cheering?

Since I started out being the youngest on the team, I feel like I’ve grown to be a leader — I’m captain this year.

What has it been like to play the role of captain this year?

You can’t just slip on by, you have to be on top of everything — if someone is missing a pair of white socks, you better have two extra pairs of white socks in your bag. If people don’t know what time to meet, you better know before the coaches so they don’t have to ask the coaches.

What happens after you graduate?

I’m definitely planning on going to a university — I haven’t decided which yet — but I’m hoping to make whatever cheer team at whatever school I go to. That’s the plan — cheering at the big football games