Every year, The Portage High School Cheerleading Team attends a cheer camp during the summer. On June 22, the team returned from the four-day camp with awards and All-American cheerleaders.
The team stayed in dorms at Ball State University, where the camp was hosted by Universal Cheerleading Association. Nearly twelve teams from Indiana and Ohio attended the camp.
During the week, the team learns multiple cheers, dances and at the end of the week, all the teams compete against each other in the Game Day Competition and the Extreme Routine Competition. Along with learning, the team also spends the week bonding.
On the first day of camp, each team is assigned a “Big Brother” or “Big Sister” that is a UCA Staff Member and they help the team not only with skills, but help them bond. The entire team agreed that the best aspect of camp, is the bonding. Kristin Gaffney said the best memories are made while the team is not cheering.
“My favorite part of camp was definitely our little dance party we had in the lounge area,” said Gaffney. “It was fun after we were done for the day and it was our own time to joke around and have fun as a team.”
During camp, six cheerleaders from every team compete to be named an All-American Cheerleader, this title is given to cheerleaders who perform a dance, cheer, jump well and show a positive attitude during the week. Three juniors, Cassie Prohl, Kristin Gaffney and Jamie Valadez always won this title on the third day. By winning, they are given a medal and a chance to perform on New Year’s Eve in London, England.
“Being an All-American is a big thing in the cheer world. But is an even bigger achievement for yourself,” Gaffney said. “When I was announced as an All American I was super excited because of all the opportunities that came with the title, but just knowing that all the pressure that I put on myself and pushing myself to make every time I did the cheer or dance better than the one I did before, and that paid off.”
The final day of camp is reserved for competition. Each team shows the entire camp the routines they practiced all week and hope to take home a trophy and gold ribbon. The team was awarded the Superior Squad award, which is for the teams who are skilled, especially with stunts and won second place in the Extreme Routine competition that required a dance and a pyramid.
Not only did the team leave with trophies, but the girls have opportunities to perform in parades in London, England and Walt Disney World and the chance to perform at the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day. Although the team is still excited from all the awards given this year, many girls, including Sophomore Jules McMasters are already looking forward to the future.
“I think that camp was a lot of hard work, but also super fun, and I’m really excited to go back next year and hopefully win more trophies with my team.” McMaster said.