Friday through Sunday both Game Day and Performance Cheer will be in Dallas competing in Nationals.
Last year, the Game Day team took third at Nationals, while the Performance team took first. The teams compete in different events throughout the year with Game Day cheer being geared toward crowd engagement, simpler routines and team support while Performance cheer is based around dance and more complicated routines. This weekend, the team hopes to come closer in points to the Grapevine Cheer team, which is notorious for excelling at Nationals.
The teams have previously won both Regional and State competitions in class 5A. However, their goals for nationals are a little bit different.
“Our sole purpose for going to Nationals is to get more experience,” Head Coach Mandy Gerzsewski said.
While only certain members participate in the Regional and State competitions, the entire team goes to nationals, including the alternates, in order for each member to get experience on the mat.
“We think it’s important for us to go to the National Championship with everybody,” Gerzsewski said. “That way the kids that don’t make those state teams can have the opportunity to get it at Nationals and then build a competitive experience for themselves and know how to handle themselves on the mat, too.”
So far, the cheer team has had a history of success, which Gerszewski attributes to the hard-work of the girls in the program.
“Their hard work and dedication is what has made the program become so amazing,” Gerszewski said. “It has become one of the best cheer programs in the state of Oklahoma and it’s awesome.”
The team will begin competition tonight.
