Before the competition season even began, half the varsity cheer team unexpectedly quit, forcing a division change from medium non-tumbling to small non tumbling. Rather than giving up, the remaining 12 athletes overcame those obstacles on their road to becoming Division 2A small non-tumbling state champions on Feb. 1. They developed a team built on trust, dedication, friendships and motivation.
Throughout the season, bonding exercises helped bring the team closer. They painted pumpkins, hosted a Friendsgiving, had a Christmas party, sang karaoke, shared motivational words and phrases, and more. These moments not only strengthened their friendships but also built a supportive and unified team culture that would fuel their success.
“We have such a strong, family-like bond that builds us up and motivates us as a whole. We all get along and had the same goals,” senior backspot Peyton Farwig, 12 said.
The “family-like bond” is, in some cases, actual family. Alex Droste, a freshman main base, moved up from JV toward the end of the season. Her sister, junior Skylar Droste, is also on the team, and they base together in the pyramid, a formation where cheerleaders stack on top of each other to create a visually striking structure, and defined by the Universal Cheerleaders Association as connected partner stunts. All of the girls admitted the pyramid is their favorite part of the routine.
Once the team arrived at state competition, hosted at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland they went out to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse. Back at the hotel, they exchanged thoughts and prayers about the performance ahead and favorite memories from the season. They also shared prayer-based thoughts for Nix Thomas, a former coach who passed away two seasons ago. After writing down all of their fears on a piece of paper, they burned them in the fire to symbolize moving forward with confidence and strength.
However, this was not the end of the obstacles. Within their division, there were several co-ed teams. Colonial and Lake Wales each had two boys on the team. On a small team there are two stunt groups, meaning that on other teams, there is a boy in each group. Most of the girls felt this was a disadvantage.
“Even though we beat them, men are still genetically stronger than women so we shouldn’t be compared against each other,” junior side base Sophia Cockrell said.
“As an all-girl team having to go against coed teams is a very big disadvantage because there are a lot of things that guys are able to do that aren’t as easy for girls to do,” sophomore flyer Saydie Rivera said.
However, no obstacles stopped the team from bringing their all on the mat and having confidence in their abilities. They showed the audience that all of their hard work throughout the season had paid off by performing the routine without any deductions from the judges, and there were many powerful emotions.
“When we hit, we all were so excited and we all immediately started crying coming off the mat because we knew we had just won, and we knew our hard work was worth it,” Farwig said.
The wait for awards was a nerve-wracking four hours. It was held in an auditorium, traditionally held on the competition floor in the convention center. Once the announcers said that Colonial came in second place, there were lots of tears because Hagerty knew that meant they won first. It showed how their hard work did pay off, and that all of the trust in each other developed throughout the year was a key to their success.
“I would say that this has probably been one of the best seasons I can ask for, this team really has grown together and everyone always has a great attitude and is always trying our best,” Rivera said.
