The 2023-2024 Cheerleading season is underway! The team is preparing for their competition season. As some of the readers may know, the cheerleaders went to nationals in Florida last year to compete. They are hoping to get the bid again this year in order to have the opportunity to compete again. The team has less than three weeks to get their routine perfect.
For those who don’t know, our cheer team competes in a division called Game Day Division. This division reflects what they do on the sidelines to engage the crowds’ involvement and demonstrate school traditions. In order to compete, this routine must include Band Dance, Situational Sideline, Time-Out Cheer, and Fight Song. This whole routine’s time cannot exceed three minutes.
The two dances that are included are called The Band Dance and The Fight Song. The Band Dance is generally an instrumental version of popular songs like “Sweet Caroline,” “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Dr. Who,” etc. The teams will add ripples, line changes, etc. Crowd leadership is still required (yelling letters, colors, or mascots over music). They can incorporate flags, poms, signs, or any other visuals to make it interesting to the crowd when/where they can. This is a dance where they can’t stunt or tumble. The Fight Song is usually a school’s own fight song or one from a major university. In this dance, they must stunt/tumble, but they only can for three 8-counts.
The Situational Sideline is when an offensive or defensive situation is given by the announcer. The team must have the proper reaction to the announcer’s cue. The team must react accordingly using signs and poms. The Time-Out cheer is a cheer that incorporates signs, poms, flags, etc. Is easy to understand and easy to follow the words. Signs and poms should assist the crowd in determining sides, words, colors, etc. Stunts should be used to elevate the message to the fans. In between all these cheers, teams must have natural energy and spirit.
As you can tell, these competitions are not the easiest thing in the world. But if you are interested in coming out to support the cheerleaders in any of these competitions, here are a few of the upcoming competitions: the first one is the Halloween Cheer Invitational on Sunday, October 29th at 11:30 am at Shepherd Hill Regional High School. Tentative competitions include Grafton High School on Saturday, November 4th at 10 a.m. and Marlborough High School on Sunday, November 5th at 11 a.m. The Game Day State Championship will be on Sunday, November 12th at Shrewsbury High School.
The State Championship is where the team with hopefully get the bid to nationals, but more importantly, win another state championship. But for either of these to happen, the team has a long way to go and a lot of practice to get there. They practice for competitions Mondays through Thursdays at practice, but they also practice at games because games are the closest thing to competitions. I hope you go out and support this team on their long road to state champs and hopefully nationals.
