As the weather starts to get colder, the cheer team has made it to inside competitions. As of right now the girls are working on “kick twist baskets, a ruby slipper stunt, and a pike basket,” according to junior Brianna Cloude.
Junior Hannah Kawaihae says, “most of the girls from fall cheer know all the basic stunts and the cheers. There are a few new younger girls on varsity winter cheer who are great with tumbling, which is a huge benefit for the team, especially with our competition coming up.”
Cloude adds, “and over time with practice,” the team is getting “a lot better” with the stunts they are working on. She continues, “we also have been working on our dance and a little tumbling. Sometimes we will do core and arm workouts to help us get better with stunting.”
Kawaihae mentions that they practice about “three to four days a week for about two hours normally.” She says for the competition, they practice for the same amount of days but it is “much more work” trying to make sure the girls get their whole routine down and perfect.
As for how a normal cheer competition goes, varsity.com says, “teams perform a two-and- a-half minute routine with music that includes stunts, jumps, and tumbling. Teams are judged by a panel of cheerleading experts on difficulty and execution.”
Kawaihae says, “our coaches set it up, and you have to learn all of the rules for competition to make sure you don’t get ranked low. We all learn a routine and it has to be very clean, or we can get deductions. It is all pretty basic things.”
The girls say that the hardest thing about their sport is practicing to get the routine they have for competitions perfect.
