Running onto the mat, hand in hand with your teammates, your heart feels like it’s going to burst right out of your chest onto the floor and you can’t tell if you’re nervous or excited. The lights are shining down on you and your team, then a two minute and 30 second moment goes by and the routine is completed. This experience is what it feels like to compete on a competitive varsity cheer team.
Varsity cheerleading is commonly seen only from the sidelines, but beneath the surface, there is a whole other world. Competing from Oct. to May, cheerleaders experience constant stress. However, the reward is worth it.
“Immediately after competing, you get that adrenaline rush and you’re so excited about what you just did,” Landry Key, a junior on varsity, said. “At the end of the day, you get the memories.”
In competitive cheer, months of hard work and physical strength training are required to successfully complete the routine. The athletes practice perfecting jumping, tumbling and stunting with the sharpest and cleanest movements possible.
“Physically, we do a lot of full outs, and we do the routine like a million times to make sure that we feel confident,” Key said.
Hours of practice followed by conditioning is a challenge in itself, along with having to balance schoolwork and cheerleading during peak season.
“I use a calendar a lot, time management and making sure I’m not procrastinating,” Madeline Cantrell, senior on varsity said. “I usually do homework and eat then I go to practice.”
Not only is cheer physical, but it’s also an extremely mental sport. Having the ability to work with a team is as difficult as perfecting physical movements.
“Having so many different ways of doing things, opinions, and having to all work together for the same goal is challenging,” Cantrell said.
Cheer is a sport that requires a lot of trust. The trust in your bases to be there for you, the trust in your flyer to be tight in the air, and the trust in your whole team to push their limits and try their best.
“Trust is important because as a team we need to be able to trust each other to do stunts, to do our dance, to do everything, especially when it comes to stunts, trust is a really big component,” Leila Torres, a junior on varsity said.
Jupiter cheerleaders are expected to be nothing less than excellent when it comes to academics while remaining role models around the school and community.
“We’re held to a certain standard to represent the school,” Torres said. “We have a really big reputation.”
After months of practice, the moment to compete finally comes. During the routine, the blasting music drowns out the faint sound of the athletes counting and motivating each other.
“We cheer each other on, saying things like ‘keep going!’ throughout the whole routine,” Laynie Merrill, senior on varsity said.
During competitions, motivation is a crucial aspect. Each cheerleader needs to be mentally prepared and confident. During the routine, the athletes use “mat talk” which is a motivational technique.
“Mat talk is a big thing when we compete, we yell at each other, we scream at each other getting ourselves motivated to perform well,” Torres said.
Some describe competing as a moment where you get onto the floor, blackout and next thing you know you hit zero. But in reality, months of hard work and preparation go into that two-and-a-half-minute routine.
“I just hope that we leave feeling like we worked the hardest that we could,” Key states
No matter the outcome, the athletes say the journey is worth the while.
“Win or lose, you eventually learn something from it,” Leila Torres said. “If we do lose as long as we put 100% effort out there I feel like I’ll be proud of myself.”
