Cartoon cheerleader with pom-pom and megaphone by the 30-yard line and 1st down scoreboard

Cheerleader on the 30-Yard Line

A smiling cheerleader raises one fluffy pom-pom while holding a starry megaphone beside the 30-yard line and bleachers.

🎨 How to color it

Color the cheerleader’s uniform bright red, the big hair bow sunny yellow, the pom-pom snowy white with silver shadows, and the star-covered megaphone royal blue. Use sharp colored pencils for the pleats, scoreboard numbers, and tiny megaphone stars, then switch to broader strokes for the bleachers and field. Try making the 30-yard line glow with a pale gold edge, as if her cheer has uncovered something special there.

The story behind this coloring page

The Cheer Under Thirty — Under the practice lights, Sela tapped her sneaker on the 30-yard stripe and shook one pom-pom only once. Read the full story →

Under the practice lights, Sela tapped her sneaker on the 30-yard stripe and shook one pom-pom only once. She had invented a game called Whisper-First: if she guessed the next play before the scoreboard clicked, the field had to whisper back. The air smelled like cut grass and rain on metal bleachers. Behind her, the little sign still said 1st DOWN, but no players moved.

“Tell me where I fit,” Sela whispered into her starry megaphone. A sound came from below the white paint—hush-rush, hush-rush—like a crowd hiding under the turf. She lifted her pom-pom high, and the stripe warmed beneath her shoe. The scoreboard flickered: 30, 30, 30.

Sela understood the secret rule she had made real. Ever since that night, cheerleaders raise one pom-pom on the 30-yard line so the field remembers where every team’s courage begins; next time you spot that big 30, see if you can hear the hush-rush too.