By Caroline Carter 
Staff Writer
Back tucks, toe touches and round offs: all basic skills needed to excel at cheerleading. November marks the beginning of competitive cheerleading, a huge undertaking for many high school girls.
Most girls participating in high school cheer are also involved in competitive cheerleading outside of school. The two main teams in the area are Spirit of Texas and Cougar Cheer.
Sophomore Mikayla Wecker, a member of the CHS JV cheer team, is in her fourth year as a competitive cheerleader and is currently on Cougar Cheer.
“When you are on high school cheer, it is not all about talent and skill level,” Wecker said. “It is about cheering your team on, staying positive and giving support for the players. But competitive cheer is all about talent. Your goal is to get put on the highest team possible.”
The season for competitive cheerleading begins in November and lasts until late spring. In hopes of getting a bid to Worlds, a highly competitive national competition held in Orlando, Fla. every year, the cheerleaders must spend countless hours in the gym.
“Practices are two to three hours each practices, not to mention tumbling classes on top of that,” Wecker said. “In one week, we are probably in there seven hours a week.”
With many hours of training, Wecker hopes to possibly continue cheering at the collegiate level. Many former CHS cheerleaders have gone to cheer for some of the top schools in Texas, including Abby Drake, Keely Leonard and Macaully Shumate who are all members of the University of Texas at Austin cheer squad.
“Out of high school, I would love to become a college cheerleader,” Wecker said. “College cheer is like high school cheerleading, but is also slowly becoming competitive cheer as well. So you really get the best of both worlds.”
For junior McCall Trueblood, who has been cheering for nine years and is currently on the Spirit of Texas team, the bonds formed with fellow cheerleaders means more than any competition or trophy.
“It teaches me so many things,” Trueblood said. “You learn teamwork and leadership because you are on a team with 20 to 30 girls. But probably my favorite thing is the bond you form with the other girls. You go through so much together and start out strangers but end a family.”
Trueblood is a member of the varsity cheerleading team at CHS and says cheering on a competitive team significantly helps improve her technique for tryouts.
“Competitive cheer definitely helps me maintain my skills for high school,” Trueblood said. “The skills you need to make the CHS squad are high level skills and require practice on a regular basis in order to become consistent.”
CHS varsity cheer coach Tiffany Ganss says there is often a correlation between the skill level of girls on high school cheer and competitive cheer.
“With the girls that are on competitive squads, they keep their skills more consistently,” Ganss said. “While some girls get it for tryouts and then lose it. The girls are going so many times a week to practice and stay fit.”
With many commitments such as sporting events, the cheerleaders have a very hectic schedule.
“Varsity cheerleaders already have a football games, plus an occasional two hour practice after school,” Ganss said. “And they still have their competitive cheer at night. I honestly don’t know how they do all of it.”
