Only one sport exists in which athletes jump, flip, twist, and balance a human above their head- all with a smile on their face. That sport is cheerleading. Cheerleading requires an impressive amount of physical and mental strength- both qualities that the Summer Creek High School Cheer team and Competition team possess.
SCHS Cheer is split into two teams: JV/Freshman and Varsity, both under the leadership of head coach Crystal Livingston, and assistant coaches, Krystal Schneider and Christina Gonzales. Within each squad, many cheerleaders were selected to be a part of the Summer Creek competition team.
This year, the competition routine is choreographed by Schneider. There are four sections of the competition routine that Summer Creek competes in: the school Fight Song, Band chant, Sideline cheer, and Game day cheer. While the Fight Song is kept the same each year with minor adjustments, all other chants and cheers are made completely from scratch.
An extensive amount of work goes into putting the cheerleaders on the floor. This year, Schneider has choreographed the competition routine. She starts with music.
“I’m trying to find something that’s fun, that will get the crowd involved, where we can add signs and calls back, and yells too,” Schneider stated. “Once I find the music, I start putting together motions and things that will look really visual on the mat, poms, signs, and flags, something that is different and will catch the other’s attention, but will also have a lot of opportunities for the crowd to get involved in the routine.”
Schneider “Feels really good (about the upcoming competitions)”. “So far we seem to be a little bit ahead of where we were last season. Last year we were able to make finals for the first time, and I feel like we’re going into this first regional competition about where we were when we went to state last year. The routine is looking really good and after having a season of competing under our belt, the girls already know how to move, what the judges expect, and the way to interact with the crowd, so I feel like we’re already a little ahead of the game this year.”
Both Schneider and Livingston have high expectations and goals for the competition team. While the coaches both hope to advance to UIL finals, and score in the top five schools, the ultimate goal is to win first place.
“We want to win. We want trophies, we want first place!” Livingston said with a smile. However, the process is stressful.
“There’s just never enough time to do all the things that we want to do,” Livingston said. “We lose sleep all the time over it, and stress about it, and have dreams over it. I had a dream that we made it to finals, and were just about to announce the winners, and I woke up, so I don’t know how we did.”
Livingston is not the only coach dreaming of competition. Schneider has also had some interesting dreams.
“I had a dream last night that we were at a competition, and we finished competing. They (the judges) were like ‘Wait, there’s part two!’. They said it’s a quiz over Christmas movies… I woke up totally panicked, sweating and then laughing!”
Both the coaches and the cheerleaders are putting boundless energy into the competition. From returning competition seniors, to first-year freshmen, the squad shares a common goal of winning, and have no problem encouraging each other along the way.
“We have a lot of team spirit and chemistry,” freshman Makylin Holmes exclaimed.
Cheerleader Katia Bonner agrees. “I’m excited because everything’s looking good, and everyone gets along,” she said.
Holmes and Bonner are both new to the comp team, but enthused to take part in this endeavor.
“I feel honored, because you have to compete with 60 other girls, and considering that I’m a freshman and still made it, I feel honored to be on it,” Holmes said.
Although practices can sometimes feel long and exhausting, and countless hours go into the routine, all of the time and energy is worth it when the cheerleaders hit the mat.
“We expect a lot of our girls and want to win, it’s just a lot of preparation, it’s a lot of work, it’s a lot of time, it’s a lot of stress… but it’s so worth it. I can’t wait”, Livingston said.
