College cheerleading team preps for nationals

The Pasco-Hernando State College cheerleading team will compete at nationals for the second straight year.

The cheer squad will travel to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on March 18 to square off in the Cheer Ltd. Collegiate Nationals at CANAM. The squad will compete in the Collegiate Small Coed Division, where it finished fourth runner-up out of 13 teams last year.

The team enters the competition with positive momentum after it won the state championship title in the College Coed Level 6 division at the American Championships Official Florida Championships Cheer and Dance competition on Feb. 6.

At nationals, the team will perform a 2 ½-minute routine, which will feature running and standing tumbling, as well as jumps, stunts, a pyramid and a dance.

To prep for the advanced routine, the team practiced every day during the school’s spring break, which began March 7.

The routine is “flashier” than others the team has performed, according to junior flyer Amanda Kahn.

Freshman backspot Thad Anderton, one of the team’s two male cheerleaders, said the routine’s challenge lies in putting “it all together.”

“We upped it up a little bit for nationals,” the Zephyrhills High graduate said. “We have a little more difficult tumbling. We have a couple more layouts and tucks that are jumps, and a little more difficult stunting, too.

“You have to think — doing a single stunt is really hard, but when you throw 20 stunts in the same routine in two minutes and 30 seconds, it’s pretty crazy,” he said.

Since team tryouts last June, the cheer team has improved its skills tremendously, said Sophia Haddad, second-year head coach.

“Just from the beginning of this season, or even just a couple of months ago, the routine we performed at state wasn’t a routine that we could do. It was something we were working toward,” said Haddad, a former cheerleader at both PHSC and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “They have done a tremendous job of improving and really getting so much better all around. They came in with certain skills, and they’re going to be competing with skills that are so much higher than what they had when they started.”

Much of the team’s improvement over the past several months can also be attributed to Haddad’s coaching mechanisms, members of the team said.

“From tryouts, we basically had Level 2 skills and thanks to (Coach Haddad), we full out have Level 6 skills, which is way more advanced and difficult,” Kahn said. “The more Level 6 skills we put into our routine, the higher the chance that we will win, if…we execute it properly.”

Sophomore base Damari Sanchez pointed out Coach Haddad’s ability to motivate has benefitted the squad.

“I love how she pushes us to our limits, and that’s exactly what we need, because if we didn’t have somebody here to push us, then we wouldn’t try as hard,” Sanchez said. “She has love for us; it’s tough love sometimes, but that’s what we need.”

Anderton referred to Haddad as the “most caring” and “hardest” coach he’s ever had.

In building a roster each season, Haddad looks for cheerleaders that are good students and have an upbeat attitude.

“I liked all of the teams I was on, but this year I feel like everybody here has a great, positive energy,” said Kahn, who’s in her third-year with the program. “You don’t hear the stereotypical cheerleader ‘drama.’ They’re very friendly.”

Anderton added the team has a “very family feel.”

“I just feel like I’ve gained so many good friends out of this cheerleading team, and all the hard work…is going to pay off when we go to nationals,” he said. “I’m really excited to spend that time with them and have our fun time since we didn’t really have a spring break.”

Since Haddad was a cheerleader at PHSC from 2009-2011, the program has grown substantially in terms of resources—with partial scholarships and new equipment each year.

In addition to a scholarship pool of $2,000 to split among team members, the program also receives new cheerleading mats each year, which can total up to $1,000, Haddad said.

“The school has allowed for increased mats for safety, and team equipment has grown tremendously,” the cheer coach said. “They get bags and practice uniforms, and bows and all those things they didn’t get before, and if they did get them, the team was paying out of pocket, whereas now the school takes care of those fees.

“We never traveled out of state for competitions until last year, so that’s a really big deal,” she said.

While a first-place finish in Myrtle Beach would be ideal, the team is hoping to wind up in the top three.

“Last year, our team was good, but not as good as we are now,” Kahn said. “The improvement every year — you can see it.”

“I’d say we have a lot more talent than we did last year. We have more tumbling skills,” Sanchez said. “If all of us try out next year, I wouldn’t even doubt it that we’d make first.”

Published March 16, 2016