The JV cheerleading team has been putting in the work to achieve their goals this competition season. Their first competition is Dec. 3 at Carl Sandburg High School.
Their routine this year is difficult. It includes elite level tumbling skills including fulls and elite stunting skills including high to highs.
“I really like how the formations change and there is definitely a chance for everyone to be everywhere around the mat and show off their skills,” freshman Emery Murawski said.
The team spends multiple hours practicing and perfecting their routine to get it as clean as possible so when it comes to the actual competition day, it feels easy.
“During practices we warm up, do our tumbling, practice stunts, then do full outs of our routine, and finally we do conditioning usually consisting of running stairs or cardio workouts in order to build our stamina,” freshman Lauren Klimchak said.
Building up stamina is extremely important because it is very easy to feel tired during the routine. Competition routines are composed of many different elements, which the team doesn’t have the opportunity to show off during the football season.
“You really have to know what is going on because it takes a lot of energy to lift a person and there is a high possibility of someone getting hurt which can greatly affect the whole team,” Murawski said. “It is extremely important that we are all on the same page and communicate with each other during the routine.”
The team has many goals that they are expecting to accomplish with their routine. These goals include winning competitions, adding new and higher level skills, and eventually winning conference.
Competition is an exciting time for the athletes because they finally get to show off what they have been working at for so long.
“I am most excited to see how our team responds to the pressure of competition. Our routine has lots of difficulty which keeps us pushing forward each day,” freshman Sarah Casey said.
Their coach Melissa McKenna loves seeing her athletes hit the skills as she prepares them for varsity the next season. She said she is mainly hoping for a clean routine and for all of her athletes to come off the mat and feel proud of themselves.
Allie Kagay is a member of the JV cheerleading team.
