by Alissa Morris
Freedom High School cheerleaders will be competing in Tampa on December 1st. This is their first competition and it will be held at the Tampa Convention Center. There are two teams for competitions: Junior Varsity and Varsity.
This competition is the UCA Regionals, where the Freedom High School cheerleading team could qualify for nationals. This competition has high school cheerleading teams from all around the region. It is hosted by UCA, the Universal Cheerleaders Association.
Cheerleading is a very difficult sport that requires a lot of practice. It includes tumbling, stunting, and learning dances, cheers, routines, etc. Cheerleaders come to football and basketball games to cheer, along with competing around the state.
The Freedom High School cheerleaders are preparing for the competition season by having practice after school. Cheer practice is held on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 3-5pm. During these practices, the cheerleaders go through their routine, practice dances and cheers, and train stunting. On Wednesdays, cheerleaders have practice to practice their tumbling. Tumbling practice has two sessions: session 1 is from 2-3pm and session 2 is from 3-4pm.
During practice, cheerleaders wear Freedom High School cheerleading shirts with blue or red shorts. The Freedom cheer shirts are blue or red, and have Freedom High School’s cheerleading logo printed on it. While at practice, cheerleaders use pom poms to practice getting the crowd involved in their chants.
The routine that is prepared for competition season includes many different skills. The skills in the routine are different stunts including handstands, full down cradles, and liberty stunts. In the routine, there is also tumbling, such as round-off back handsprings, round-off back handspring back tucks, and standing back handsprings.
Good luck to the Freedom High School cheerleading team, and be sure to come and support them at their competitions!