Competitive Cheer

You see them in the gym and on the
gridiron all the time. That's when cheerleaders take on a supporting role in
an athletic event. But they also have their chance for center stage.

By Matt Soltysiak

Posted: Sunday, January
13, 2008 at 12:41 p.m.

You see them in the gym
and on the gridiron all the time. That's when cheerleaders take on a
supporting role in an athletic event. But they also have their chance for
center stage. Competitive Cheer is an MHSAA winter sport.  Cheerleading
seems pretty straight forward, but there's actually more to it, than meets
the eye.

"Competitive cheer
requires a lot of body awareness, body flexibility, it's a unique form of
athlete," Said Gaylord Head Coach Ronda Davis.

At the competitions
there's three rounds, each focusing on different skills. Round one is
cheering, in round two the teams add gymnastics... and the judges are
watching closely.

"When you hit a
motion you can just put it out, or you can punch it out and the punching is
so much cleaner and looks so much better. and if
it's tight most of the time it's clean and it's all insync,"
said Evart Sophmore Bethany Bengry.

Then there's round three
where teams add one more element, stunts. So is it like what you see in the
movies?

"It's nothing like
Bring It On. There's no music in competitive cheerleading for our division
and Bring It On has a lot of dancing in it," said TC West Senior Molly
Aldridge.

These girls compete like
other sports teams do, but sometimes they have to pull double duty.

"Last Thursday we
were actually at a competition in Central Lake
and then we went and cheered at the boys Pellston game after that," said
Bellaire Senior Alissa Carpenter.

"Competitive cheer
is a lot of fun jumping around and cheering, but would actually take a lot
more work than you expect," said Matt Soltysiak.

"It's a lot of fun,
it's a lot of hard work, it's very dangerous and cheer leading is definitely
a sport," said Gaylord Senior Jessica Henry.

That's right,
don't tell anyone here that competitive cheering is not a sport.

"People don't really
understand that like we get to compete against other teams and it's really
competitive and it's not just a bunch of girls cheering loud, it's more than
that. It's a real sport," said Charlevoix Senior Molly Braniecki.

"Not only do we have
to work hard and throw people up in the air and catch them, but we also have
to smile and look good while we're doing it," said Gaylord Assistant
coach Jessica Jo Davis.

The coaches say another
thing that makes this sport so unique is that they're actually competing
against themselves and cheering for each other.

"The girls have to
have an incredible amount of spirit and desire. They have to be one hundred
percent committed, because cheer leading you rely on
everybody and every formation. You can't have somebody missing a practice or
not being at a competition because the team functions as one. It's like an
old cliche, these teams are as strong as their
weakest link," said Charlevoix Head Coach Erin Nickel.