NGU’s cheer team moves from the sidelines to the frontlines of victory
Mary Margaret Flook, Staff Writer
Cheerleading is a selfless effort in which a team is devoted to supporting another sports team’s success.
Cheerleaders spur on the crowds in spirit. They cheer for football teams as running backs sprint down the field for a touch-down. They demand defense while a team is in defeat. They bleed their school’s colors and hope for the best during every game. All of this is done on the sidelines. Yet, there comes a time when cheerleaders leave the sidelines to take on the competition for themselves.
On Mar. 4, 2023 at Wofford College, the Crusader Cheerleaders competed in the Conference Carolinas Spirit Championship. This is only the second year that Conference Carolinas has held this championship, and the first year NGU has taken part. NGU took first place in the all-girl intermediate division.
There were nine total teams at the competition, and four in their division. NGU was also second overall, making them a Grand Champion runner-up.
Cheerleading coach, Maria Surfus said that the cheerleading season begins in August when school starts. The team begins to prepare for their first football game. After football season is over, the cheer team rolls into basketball season.
Surfus said that the fall is much like the cheer team’s off season. Surfus said that the time on the field prepares them for the time on the mat. She said that in the spring, during basketball season, is when they begin to prepare for competition.
According to Surfus, during the competition, each team gets two and a half minutes to demonstrate to the judges their stunting, tumbling and jumps all combined into a unique dance routine. The score is out of 100, and the team with the highest score wins. NGU won their division with a score of 80.92.
Acccording to Surfus, the judges are looking at the skills in the routine (how difficult they are), execution of the skill and the overall look of the routine (including whether the team is synchronized).
This was a new experience for NGU’s cheer team.
Callie Gray, a sophomore on the cheer team said that she definitely felt very nervous going into the competition since she had not competed since high school.
Gray said, “I think we got really close by competing.” She said the team had dinner the night before and it was good to hangout outside of practice. Gray said that they spent so many hours practicing together and that none of them had ever competed in college before. Gray said they got to experience that together for the first time.
When speaking of the team Gray said, “It’s like a big family, we’re all like sisters.”
Coach Surfus agrees. Surfus said that if you asked any of the girls they would say sisterhood is their most favorite part of the team. Surfus said, “They work hard for one another.”
Surfus said that the team’s preference is competition, and that football and basketball games are bonuses.
Looking ahead to the future, Surfus said she hopes to compete in more competitions such as the NCA collegiate championship held in Daytona. Surfus said next year they’re going after the grand champion.
When asked how the team could grow, Coach Surfus said that in cheerleading you can always have a better skill and that there are harder skills to gather.
When speaking of how the team has already grown this year compared to last year, Gray said. “I think we’ve grown a lot as a team.” She said that they had a lot more practices this year due to the competition. This gave them a longer season and more time together.
Gray explained the pressure of the competition of how they only have one chance to do it right in two and a half minutes. Whereas in other sports, you have several games. She said they had a chance to win or lose. Gray said, “We really wanted to make NGU proud.”
