Countless hours is what it takes to perfect a 2 minute and 30 seconds routine, and Hempfield Area’s Varsity Cheerleading Team works hard all season to do just that.
The team competed at WPIALS the first weekend of January, and although they did not emerge as the overall high scorer, they still performed a great routine and qualified for the PIAA Championship on January 30th and 31st. The work for WPIALS starts in the summer, and soon after, the cheerleaders get their routine. The team knew this year would be different after getting one of the hardest routines that Hempfield Area Cheer has had. Head Coach Suzannah Mayer says that, “as soon as we started to do the first run throughs, we knew we had to approach this season completely different.” This meant more hours, focus, and hard work.
The PIAA Championship is going to be one of the most difficult competitions of the season. The 3A Large Varsity division is filled with teams that have amazing routines and tons of talent, leaving it all to whoever is having a good day. Recently with high school cheer, teams are able to perform the same skills and have very similar difficulty. On the score sheet, execution is worth 5 points more than difficulty for both partner stunts and the pyramid. The execution score takes into account how well skills are performed, the technique used, and the cleanliness of stunts. With teams doing similar skills, it comes down to whoever’s execution was perfect, no little mistakes allowed.
Just 5 days after PIAA, is the national competition at the ESPN Center in Orlando, Florida. At this competition, the team will go through the preliminary round, semi-finals, and finals for both the traditional routine and game day routine. The game day routine is more of an exciting and engaging performance that includes a band dance, sideline situational cheer, big cheer, and the fight song. In 2023, Hempfield Area won the Super Large Game Day Division, and the team is fighting to claim that title again.
Although they are hard at work making their routine the best it can be, the team will always put in effort to participate in community activities. Attending events like Hempfield Night Out and helping coach the youth cheer program are just some of the ways they stay involved.
The routine may just be 2 minutes and 30 seconds, but it showcases the approximately 700+ hours of practice and dedication these athletes put in each year.