Among the many talented athletes at Champe, three cheerleaders Amelia Schwarz, Natalie Jan, and Kayla Carter have advanced with their teams to Cheerleading Worlds.
The Bomb Squad team experienced a demanding yet successful 2023-2024 season. To prepare for the upcoming competition, the team has been practicing 3 days a week for 3 hours every week leading up to the big day. A lot of effort has been put into their performance because many of the cheerleaders are currently seniors so it is their last time competing. With months of rigorous training, team encouragement, and dedication, these talented athletes will showcase their skills on the big stage this Friday.
Our team added extra week practices and extended weekend practices to make sure we were ready,” freshman Amelia Schwarz said. “As well as a world show off where we did a full out in front of our friends and family at the gym.
The cheerleading team consists of many athletes who have enjoyed this sport for years. Numerous athletes started their cheer journey through programs like Phoenix Elite Cheer and Twisters Virginia, and then proceeded to more advanced levels and programs. After practicing all throughout their youth, the next step was joining their high school team and progressing to bigger competitions like Cheerleading World championships.
“When I was younger I did so many sports and I ended up getting bored of all of them and would quit, but with cheer I fell in love with it instantly and loved watching people do it and I loved the life long bonds I would make with these people,” sophomore Natalie Jan said. “I’ve been doing it for almost 11 years and would be lying if I said that it was easy to stay on top of all the practice and not get burnt out. After last year, my team made me realize that I do this because I love it and I worked so hard to get to where I am, and they reminded me why I do this every year.”
Many cheerleaders start their journey by participating in gymnastics first. Both sports are really similar in the skills that they learn so many start there.
“I’ve been cheering for eight years so I don’t really know what got me into it,” Schwarz said. “But I did gymnastics when I was really young and I liked some parts of it but I didn’t enjoy everything about it. I tried cheerleading at All-Star Legacy in 2017 which ultimately started my cheerleading career.”
Expectations for Cheerleading Worlds are enthusiastic and full of hope. Advancing to Semifinals is the ultimate goal, although winning the competition is what the girls have been working towards all these months. Beating around 40 teams and coming out on top is the dream for many athletes on the team.
“In my division (U-18CNT 6) there were 27 teams total so we just hoped that we would make it to the semi-finals. We had an at-large bid which meant that we competed friday. We definitely didn’t have any expectations of winning because there were so many teams and only 2 athletes on the team had ever competed at worlds before,” Schwarz said. “ We didn’t hit zero at prelims so we didn’t have high hopes of advancing to semifinals but we ended up being in the top 10 to advance. We hit zero at the semi finals and ended up placing 9th in the US and 10th in the world. Bomb Squad was a completely new team to this gym so it was a really big accomplishment for everyone.”
The events leading up to the competition are long and take a lot of work. The cheerleaders arrive early to practice their routine throughout the day. They then compete and receive their scores which determine if they advance to semi finals or not. After the stressful times are over they spend the rest of their trip relaxing and visiting Disney World.
“My team and I arrived Wednesday night and Thursday morning we all woke up and got into our practice uniforms and headed over to the ESPN Wide World of Sports to practice on the fields and hopefully get to watch some of the international teams,” Jan said. “ Then Friday morning we get ready to perform. Depending on our scores it will determine if we advance to semifinals, but after we compete we will go to dinner at disney springs to find out as a team if we move on. If we don’t move on it’s no big deal that just means more time at disney!”
The Bomb Squad cheerleading team competed at cheerleading worlds on Friday, April 26th at 4:45pm. They advanced to the semi-finals and competed again the following Saturday at 8:45 am. Later in the day ranking came out and they ended up placing 9th overall.
“After the competition we went to Disney’s All-Star Sports Hotel,” Schwarz said. “There we celebrated 9th place.”
