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Photos by Emily Featherston.
All members of the VHHS competition cheerleading team practice the routine and stunts for the competition in Orlando in order for alternates to be substituted in if someone gets injured.
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Photos by Emily Featherston.
VHHS competition cheerleaders are practicing almost every day in order to prepare for the national competition. The judges at the national competition evaluate the teams on stunts and tumbling as well as cheering and the overall skill and execution of the routine.
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Photo by Emily Featherston.
VHHS competition cheerleaders are practicing almost every day in order to prepare for the national competition. The judges at the national competition evaluate the teams on stunts and tumbling as well as cheering and the overall skill and execution of the routine.
For those who don’t consider cheerleading a sport, try telling that to the 30 girls who will soon compete in front of thousands for a national title.
This month, the Vestavia Hills High School competition cheerleading team will travel to Orlando, Florida, for the National High School Cheerleading Championship.
From perfectly timed cheers and pyramids to aerial stunts and high-level tumbling, the NHSCC is a far cry from just standing on the sidelines at a football game.
The team will travel to Disney World and compete Feb. 11-12, and cheerleading program sponsor Melissa Caffey said the team is hoping to improve on last year’s fourth-place finish.
“It’s really hard work, and you have to be dedicated,” she said.
VHHS has sent a team to the competition for the last 16 years, and 15 of those years the team made the finals.
To qualify, teams have to make their way through a series of tournaments. VHHS competes at the state level, and on Dec. 9 placed first in the Universal Cheerleading Association Southern Regional Championship.
In their national championship appearances, VHHS has placed in the top five seven times, with two second-place finishes, and took the national title in 2010.
The NHSCC competition is comprised of multiple elements, including tumbling, stunts and cheering.
Unlike all-star cheerleading, where teams use a spring floor and the focus is on the “show” quality, Caffey said the NHSCC is focused on making the competition actually look like high school.
“It’s a mixture of performance and game day,” she said.
There are multiple coaches who assist the competition team in preparation, including Ryan Martin.
Some with knowledge of the cheerleading world may know Martin from Lifetime’s early-2000s show “Cheerleader Nation,” which profiled Martin — then Ryan Dunbar — and her team.
In addition to coaching in Vestavia, Martin is also the spirit coordinator for the UAB cheerleading team.
To prepare, the team added additional practices to their regular twice-a-week schedule that began in the fall, and Caffey said many of the girls attend additional tumbling programs outside of school practice. While only 30 of the girls will be in the final performance when competition day arrives, all 48 train and prepare and will travel to Orlando.
Through practicing under Martin and at their respective tumbling programs, several on the VHHS team have even mastered a standing back tuck, a skill that while appearing simple, actually requires significant technique and practice.
“The level just keeps getting higher and higher,” she said.
Team captain Sarah Haynes said that the team enjoys having the chance to represent Vestavia on the national stage, but that they recognize it doesn’t happen on their work alone.
“This year we have a great team and the cheerleaders, coaches and sponsors have all worked hard to get where we are,” she said.
Fellow senior Abby Mashburn agreed.
“This year we have such a great group of motivated and talented girls,” Mashburn said, adding that she is excited to be able to lead the team this year as they represent in Orlando.
Caffey echoed the girls in saying that nothing about being on the team is individual.
“It cannot be an individual sport at all,” she said. “You’ve all got to be on your game.”
In addition to teamwork and representing the school, Caffey said they try to use the national championship as a way to teach the girls how to work toward a goal.
To pay for the competition and trip, she said that while many families are able to pay for it, the girls are required to “work” at the team’s annual Little Rebel Cheerleading event, host the concessions stand at a UCA youth competition the school hosts, sell T-shirts in the community and even bag groceries at the Western supermarket off of Rocky Ridge Road.
“It creates more teamwork,” she said.
The team will leave on Thursday, Feb. 9, with travel taking up most of that day, Caffey said. On Friday, the team will gather at a local gym in Orlando to get in a few more hours of practice and fine-tuning of their routine.
Competition begins early Saturday morning, Caffey said, and should the team make it to the finals, the competition will go through late Sunday evening.
The NHSCC begins with a preliminary competition. If teams rank in the top “A” or “B” groups, they are immediately placed in the finals. The next several teams go through a semifinal process.
“You’re only guaranteed one shot when you go,” Caffey said.
