South’s cheerleading team is often recognized for its spirit and support at the many football and basketball games throughout the year. This weekend, however, members of the South cheerleading squad stepped out of a supporting role and into the spotlight, earning a bid for the 2018 UCA National Cheerleading Championships in Orlando, Florida.
The team traveled to Pendleton Heights High School this weekend to compete against 40 other high school teams and were one of the 15 squads to make the cut. This isn’t the first time that the South cheerleading team has gained passage to the Magic Kingdom, but it has been over a decade since their last appearance.
Dubbed the “Competition Team,” this group differs from the football and basketball teams in that it’s an evaluation-based group that takes the highest of talents from the already assembled cheer team and puts them through additional practices to perfect a competitive routine.
Junior Hannah Wright, a member of the varsity basketball and football cheerleading squads, was lucky enough to make the competitive team and competed this weekend. She notes that it has kept her busy. “I’ve had cheer practice every single day for about a month now, back and forth between the varsity basketball squad and the competition team,” Wright said.
Wright doesn’t mind the extra time commitment, though, especially since it has yielded such successful results. “It’s been super fun. I think today’s performance definitely reflected all the hard work we have been putting in over the past couple of months and proved, not only to ourselves, but to everyone watching that we are more than ready to take the next step for nationals,” Wright said.
The UCA National Cheerleading Championships will be held on Feb. 10-11, 2018 in Orlando, Florida. Both Bloomington South and North cheerleading teams will be competing. Check back in February for coverage of the competition.
