Loud music and shouting can be heard echoing through the empty halls of the middle school during after hours. The source of the excitement: Dartmouth Youth Football League Cheerleaders lifting each other into the air to a techno beat.

The Junior Midget division of youth cheerleading, which has an age range of 10 through 13, has spent the past week preparing for its next competition on Nov. 7. If successful, the team of 11 girls will have the opportunity to compete at Disney World.

The DYFL Junior Midget Cheerleaders experienced some recent success in Rhode Island, placing second during their first competitive performance on Oct. 24. Coach Ann Davis said the secret to success has been unifying the team. She’s accomplished this by giving the cheerleaders opportunities to form friendships.

“One of the major things about this year has been getting the kids to bond,” said Davis. “We’ve done some great things together. We go to the movies together. They go ice skating together. We’ve formed a family.”

“Another goal I had this year was to take every girl from whatever level they were at and step it up one notch. We’ve succeeded,” she said.

Davis said, as an example, if a girl couldn’t perform a forward roll or a cartwheel, she would make sure the cheerleader would focus on learning that one new skill. She wanted every participant to learn something new this season.

Team mom Cat Mindlin said the girls have been practicing over and over in order to perfect their techniques.

“Part of the competition is making sure that their spacing is appropriate. It’s a giant space, and you need to make sure they’re not contained in a tiny, little cluster,” said Mindlin.

She said part of their training involves cheering at Dartmouth Youth Football League games every weekend, too.

The coaches receive some help from older students who have passed through the junior league. Kayla Lemieux, 15, who is a former DYFL cheerleader, returns to coach the younger students at the middle school. She has fond memories of her time in the youth division.

“I met my best friend Sara when we were 10. You meet a lot of friends here. It brings everyone together,” said Lemieux.

Davis said a long-term goal for the group is to bring more boys on as cheerleaders. Currently, there is one boy in a younger division. Davis' girls agreed that more young men should give cheerleading a chance.

“A lot of people would stereotype it, and say cheerleading is just for girls,” said Sara Catana, 14, one of the student coaches.

She pointed out that, in the Dartmouth school system, girls are given the chance to play football.

Catana said that sometimes, as a cheerleader, she feels underestimated. Sometimes, she said, others will tell her that she looks like a twig.

“But look at that,” she said while flexing her bicep. “It’s just as much a girls sport as it is a boys sport. It’s about family.”

The next competition for the Junior Midget cheerleader division will occur on Nov. 7 in Springfield, Massachusetts at the New England Pop Warner 2015 Regional Championship Cheer & Dance Finals.