There are many varying types of cheerleading. Students might think of cheerleading as simply encouraging school spirit and performing during football games, but in reality it’s much more than that. During the fall season, cheerleaders engage in sideline cheer, and then during the winter season they engage in competition cheerleading.
The captains of the competition cheer team are seniors Sadie Cella and Kelsey Kiely. The coaches are Amber Nestor and Megan Oliver. There are 13 girls on the team this year.
“Competition cheer is high difficulty, hard stunts, pushing yourself to do new things, more tumbling, overall just competitive where[as] sideline is obviously still difficult but more for fun and for show.” Kiely explains.
“Sideline is more for entertaining the crowd and keeping them engaged.” adds sophomore, Laney Chan.
Captains Cella and Kiely say that the biggest difference between the two is that; for sideline it’s more for performance, cheerleaders are putting on a show and having fun, while competition is based more on being judged towards specific skills, doing harder stunts at a faster pace, competing to win, etc.
“Sideline cheer is the building block to competition season.” says Nestor.
Head coach Amber Nestor is a Foran alumni, and was a member of the cheer team herself.
“I started volunteer assistant coaching at Foran for about 3 years before I became the official assistant coach from 2016 to 2018. Then I started coaching Popwarner youth cheer and am still involved in that program today. So, in all I’ve been coaching cheerleading for around ten years but this is my very first year as a head coach and I’m excited for the upcoming competition season!”
There are three main cheer positions; bases, backspots, and flyers. Bases support the flyer and usually lift or throw them. The backspot keeps the flyer balanced and prevents them from falling. Lastly, the flyer is the athlete that performs tricks in the air.
Stunting is the combination of all these positions to create performances that will display the team’s skills.
For competition cheer all teams go to states. If a team places top six at states, they progress to the next competition, and if they place top three in that competition, they continue moving forward. Teams continue competing until ultimately there is one team remaining.
“Judges judge based on how many points they think you deserve, with this there are also regulations on the certain amount of points you can get for certain skills,” says Kiely.
An example is for the skill of tumbling, a specific amount of athletes on the team need to perform a certain skill to get a higher point value.
If one cheerleader can perform this certain skill, it can also increase points, but not as much compared to if the team were to have multiple of that skill. The same applies for stunting and other areas. Practice is key to perfecting all these aspects prior to states.
Kiely explains, “Our practice starts off with a team stretch, then we move into tumbling lines and standing tumbling. We go over our stunts and keep practicing them. We learn new things frequently, and we try to run our routine ‘full out’ a few times before the end of practice. We also practice jumps and go over technique frequently to make sure that we can perform the best possible.”
Going through these steps everyday with the same group of girls creates a unique bond.
“Since there’s only 13 girls on the competition team we’re all super close, with cheer it’s important to trust each other because in order to have good stunt groups you have to believe in your bases, flyers, and back spots.” says Cella.
“Cheerleading is a true test of coordination, athleticism and memorization. It can be challenging to learn but so rewarding in the end. From practices, to games, to competitions almost all year round, it builds strength, dedication and friendships that you will never forget. I joined cheerleading because I loved learning stunts and I was always dancing. I stayed because of my teammates and coaches – and as a bonus, it was fun to win competitions!” quotes Nestor.
The teams first competition’s current date is January 20, but this may change. To stay updated, follow @foranvarsitycheer on Instagram!
