As I'm not American, this whole cheerleading thing feels very weird to me. It's weird to see the role of boys to play sports while the girls cheer doing elaborate choreographies. Does anyone else feels it weird from a different cultural framing?
There’s also a band in the stands that marches in formation on the field at halftime.
I'm pretty sure the extreme emphasis on marching-compatible instruments in high school music programs is entirely due to this, in fact. I wonder how many 17-year-olds play the tuba or trombone or clarinet in Europe, versus the US, for instance? In an ideal world I'd see all non-specialist students at that level learning piano/keyboard, or maybe guitar or ukulele. Something with good general utility, acceptable when played solo even at not-great skill levels, and relatively easy to reach a point where you can lead a sing-along. Nice, physical, evident mapping of notes and theory to the instrument, too, unlike wind and brass instruments.