Cheer Nationals: A Story of Perseverance

After months of hard work, the Waukee competition cheer team earned 6th place out of 18 teams at NCA High School Cheer Nationals. Nationals is a two-day competition hosted in Dallas Texas, with the best high school cheer teams from across the nation attending. Not only does this event attract thousands of people to watch in the arena, but it is also live-streamed to thousands of others around the US. 

On day one, Waukee did not do as well as they had hoped. The energy as a team was low, which trickled into their performance. Multiple stunts fell, and the judges could tell their confidence was not present. This caused them to be in 8th place after day one. On top of that, there was an illegal stunt in their pyramid, which meant they would have to redo it later that day. After a long, inspirational speech from Coach Gibson and a quick practice outside the convention center, the warriors were ready to take on day two. 

They walked into the convention center with a new positive, and confident attitude. The Warriors made a considerable comeback. They HIT their routine, meaning they had zero deductions and zero stunts fell. This took them from 8th place up to 6th, which means they moved up two places from day one to day two. It is extremely hard to move up even one place in between days considering, other teams will also be trying harder and most likely perform a quality routine. 

The warriors knew they needed to bring it, in order to bring home the trophy they wanted, and they did just that. Coach Gibson voiced, “After day one, we had a lot of work to do. I felt driven to get work done and make sure we were confident in the changes we made between day one and day two. In all sports your game changes constantly, calling a different or new play in basketball, rewriting your choreography weekly in show choir, etc. Cheer is no different.” He knew it was not ideal to make changes in the middle of a competition: however, in order to score the way they hoped, It was needed. I am a junior on the cheer team. As a participant on the team, It was very overwhelming to have to learn a whole new pyramid the day before we had to perform. Nonetheless, I knew it would pay off and we would score higher; as our routine was now meeting the division requirements. 

After day one, the overall attitude of the team changed going into day two. The team was significantly more confident and energetic. Sophomore Aubree Ford expressed, “I was feeling confident about our warmup and was ready to put all our hard work on the mat.”  Kendall Davey, another sophomore on the team states, “we have worked so hard for this moment for months. I want to make sure our hard work pays off, and we don’t end up disappointing ourselves.” The team ended up hitting their routine and walking off the mat with smiles full of joy and pride. Senior Vanessa Omolon said, “When I was walking off the mat I felt accomplished and fulfilled. It felt like all the work we put in really paid off.” One of the team’s Juniors, Elle Secory announced, “I am happy that we were able to turn our attitude around after day one. I was worried that the team was going to give up and settle for a bad score. But we really pulled it together and I feel good about our final performance.” 

Although the Waukee competition cheer team had a unique season compared to what they are used to, they managed to get 6th place out of 18 teams. This is incredibly impressive considering it was their first time competing in this division. The Warriors made a huge comeback from day one to day two which resulted in them moving up two places. They showed that they are a committed team who will rise up to any challenge and come out on the other side.