MIDDLEBORO — When Alivia Fay, a senior on the Middleboro High School cheer team, isn’t at a practice, game or competition, she can often be found hanging out with some of her younger teammates.

She said seniors on the team make an effort to spend time with their younger counterparts — often inviting them to chat over frozen yogurt or smoothies.

This isn’t something her coach or anyone else told them to do, Fay said.

Fay started cheering in eighth grade, when she joined the varsity competition team as an alternate. She said she always looked up to her older teammates for advice and encouragement.

Now, as a senior, she said she’s trying to be like those girls she once looked up to while she supports her younger teammates. She said strong relationships are what makes the Middleboro High School cheer team special.

“We don’t act our certain ages — we don’t belittle the younger girls — we try to unite as a team and really try to make everyone feel as one,” she said.

Fay emphasizes to her younger teammates that she is happy to talk to them and answer their questions, and tries to use her position as a leader to set a positive tone for the team.

She said she wants to see her team do well in competitions this year, but also wants to continue fostering connections with her teammates.

“My hopes and goals for this season would definitely be to make it further than we did last year in competition — so states — and also just to have a good relationship with the girls, make sure they can come to talk to me and be that big role model for them.”

Morgan Myers is one of these younger girls. The freshman is new to the team, and said she would see high schoolers cheering at football games and dreamt about wearing the uniform one day.

Now that she’s on the team, she said the friendly and supportive environment has been a highlight.

“We’re all like a family to each other,” Myers said. “As soon as I came to this team, everybody — even the upperclassmen — they just all made it feel like home.”

She said her fellow cheerleaders keep her motivated, and the team pushes each member to do their best.

“Everyone gets along and we all support each other,” Myers said. “When stuff goes wrong we don’t put each other down about it. Everyone’s just really supportive and welcoming.”

Coach Jessica Dempsey said this year’s team is diverse in ages and experience levels. She said there are roughly equal amounts of students from each grade represented.

She said tensions can sometimes rise, but the members respect one another and the team works well together.

The team is made of 28 members, all of whom cheer on gamedays and 10 of whom cheer competitively. She said the team focuses more on sidelines cheering than competitions, an approach that sets them apart from other schools.

“School spirit is super important to us and we put that in the forefront,” Dempsey said. “That’s before competition, that’s before anything else.”

While school spirit is her priority, she said she also hopes to see the competitive team make it to the state level this year. The team spends much of early fall practicing for games, but as other sports' seasons wind down and October competitions approach, the competitive team becomes the focus at practice.

Each year she selects several team captains, and while she hasn’t announced who will lead the team this year, she said she always looks for someone who isn’t just a skilled cheerleader.

“I’m looking for someone who leads by example, I’m looking for somebody that has more skills than just cheerleading — acceptance, leading, guiding and motivational — those kinds of things,” Dempsey said.