Fall cheer season has come to an end, which means that winter competitive cheer is in full swing. Fall cheer consists of cheering at sports games, while competitive cheer is graded by judges. The sport happens during winter, starting at the beginning of November and ending in early February with the State Finals.
“Competitive cheer is pretty different from cheering for sports,” said Co-Captain John Lindsay Ryan. “For competition, we put together a three-minute routine, where one minute is a cheer and two minutes are done to music.”
The difference between competitive cheer and sports cheer also has to do with how the team interacts with the crowd.
“Cheering for sports, you primarily are focused on engaging with the crowd and kind of having an appeal and putting yourself in the position of the people that are watching you,” remarked graduated cheer team member Noah Smith.
When the team is cheering competitively, it moves a lot faster, and there is a lot less downtime. The routine takes place all at one time, but in sideline cheering, there are breaks in between.
“The routine is very fast-paced, and we’re lifting people, flipping through the air, and cheering throughout the routine,” said Ryan.
The team is judged based on the execution and difficulty of the performance. The routine performed consists of a variety of tumbling, dance, pyramids, and stunts. In competitive cheer, the judges are also looking for showmanship, routine composition, and overall skill.
“When we cheer for sports, we typically are doing a variety of cheers, dances, and occasionally stunts and tumbling, but the stunts and tumbling are much less difficult at games than at competition,” said Ryan.
At both sports games and competitions, the environment is super similar; everyone has a strong sense of school pride. One difference is the nerves, anxiety, and anticipation that come with competitive cheer.
“It’s very high-pressure because you have to do your part with 100% effort, which is what makes everything work for the team. If that’s not done, then mistakes can arise, and it puts the whole team in jeopardy,” said Smith.
A lot of the stress comes from anticipation leading up to the actual competition. The captain speaks to the team before the routine to help people calm their nerves and get in sync. They also have the responsibility of calling cheers, which is how a cheer starts.
Most of the time at the competition is spent waiting to enter the warm-up area. Once the warm-up is done, the routine starts only minutes later.
“When it’s time to warm up, you usually get 5 minutes to stretch, then another 5 for jumps and tumbling, 5 for stunting, and then 5 to run through the whole routine,” said Ryan. “You might have 3 minutes after you run through the routine before you go on, so you have a very short time to catch your breath before going through the whole routine again.”
The team’s first competition is on December 7th, and their conference competition is on January 15th at Main East.
