The cheerleaders have stored away their football chants and moved on to practicing their competitive routines. Varsity and Junior Varsity cheer had their first competition Wednesday night in Tower’s main gym.
The tournament featured four Junior Varsity and five Varsity teams. Tower’s girls were up against the tactics of Marysville, Warren Mott, Dakota, Lamphere, and L’Anse Cruese North. The first competition was a crossover between the different divisions within the MAC standings.
Tower’s Varsity cheer team came in 3rd place behind L’A nse Cruese North and Dakota. Tower’s Junior Varsity cheer team came in 2nd place behind Dakota.
“We stepped up a lot this year compared to last year,” Heather Fredrick ’15, a varsity cheerleader said. “We really want to work towards district champs this year.”
The girls have been working hard for the past few weeks to perfect their routines. They have spent countless hours after school going creating their routine and making it as best as they can.
“Well, to prepare for competitions, we practice five days a week for three hours, practicing all of our rounds and fixing our mistakes from the last competition,” McCall Radcliffe ’15, another varsity cheerleader said.
Performing in front of a crowd is nerve-wrecking, especially when you everyone’s eyes are on you and you have to remember every step of a routine that’s perfectly in sync. If you make one mistake, the whole team messes up too. “It’s like a bottomless pit in my stomach. It’s very nerve-wrecking,” Fredrick added.
“The feeling before we go compete is indescribable…it’s nervous and excitement packed into one and your adrenaline is high. You have to try and control it though so you don’t mess up,” Radcliffe added.
Before the girls go out on the mat and perform, they stand in a big circle, tell each other positive things and say their rounds as a big group. This is used to help calm their nerves and pump them up for their performance.
The Varsity and Junior Varsity cheer teams had another competition this past Saturday. Both teams stepped up their game and came out on top. Varsity and Junior Varsity landed in 1st place with a high accumulative score.
Both teams hope to continue to improve and make it all the way to districts. The girls hope to meet their goal of having a successful season and hopefully become district champs.
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