Cheerleading Jumps to Competitive Spirit Season
Lily Graff
Staff Writer
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From the football field to the cheer mat, CV’s cheer team has continued working through all seasons of the year. As the fall season ends and winter begins, the team is more determined than ever to bring the school victories with their hard work, energy, and spirit. Along with the seasonal change, comes an upcoming series of competitions where they hope to advance far enough to achieve a state championship for Cumberland Valley.
Senior Lauren Cirrincione said, “Since we don’t have games on friday anymore, we practice fridays now. It’s definitely been more time consuming ever since football season has ended.”
Cirrincione said, “We practice every school day for about 2 hours, sometimes more than that, and then we have competitions on the weekend. I would say at the beginning of the week, like Monday or Tuesday, it’s more laid back. But when Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday hits... it’s gametime.”
The work and time they put into every day is all displayed when basketball game days arrive.
Cirrincione said, “At basketball games we have pregame. During this we just warm up our stunts with our stunt group and we go over all of our chants. During the games we just get up and cheer. Sometimes we go and perform during half time and put on other performances like that.”
Although basketball season is time consuming enough, the cheer team must also work toward competition season which is at its peak during the winter. Aside from game routines, the girls must also focus on their competition routine. These adroitly choreographed routines often incorporate skill and accuracy to show off the team’s strong suits and impress judges across the state.
In the middle of November, the team competed at the IUP State Cheer Championship and won for their competition routine and game day routine. Their next event is the District Competition taking place this weekend at CD East.
Cirrincione said, “We have districts coming up this weekend, so we are hoping we win that to qualify for states and then the State Championship will be in January followed by Nationals in February.”
As they transition into basketball and competition season this winter, they understand that the journey ahead of them will be long. They are planning to continue pushing and excelling to entertain all those who watch them. To be successful in 2020, their mindset is to hit every routine consistently and win at States.
Cirrincione said, “We just want to hit solid at every competition we can and hopefully bring back the state championship.”