A summer trip to Hawaii has become an annual tradition for the Sunlake High varsity cheer team.
From June 22 to June 29, Sunlake cheer coach Pennye Garcia and five of her cheerleaders will participate in the 15th annual Cheer Hawaii USA Summer Invitational at the University of Hawaii.
(Photos courtesy of Pennye Garcia)
Coach Garcia will be joined in Oahu by Sunlake cheerleaders Taylor Broderick, Lauren Gobea, Maddie Frazee, Hailey Parks and Mikiah Peeples.
About 100 cheerleaders from all 50 states are selected to participate in the prestigious camp each year.
Since 2006, Garcia has sent at least five of her cheerleaders — at every school she’s coached — to the weeklong college-prep cheer camp. She is one of just eight coaches that will be attending to provide additional instruction and guidance.
Each year, Cheer Hawaii focuses on developing four main competitive cheerleading areas: cheer motion and spirit, dance, stunting and leadership skills.
Typically, nominations for the camp are open to current high school sophomores and juniors that exhibit certain qualities such as basic cheer skills, leadership abilities, a positive attitude, and a desire to learn and improve.
Sunlake senior Amanda Slozer, who attended the camp last year, said the weeklong affair benefits cheerleaders who aspire to be team captains and role models for younger teammates.
“It’s a really good experience,” she said about the camp. “I had a good time.”
With a limited number of spots, Garcia opts to nominate cheerleaders that have shown her leadership-like qualities during their career at Sunlake.
“I choose the ones…that show me individual characteristics that I would be proud of to send to Hawaii to represent our skills,” said Garcia, the 2016 East Pasco Coach of the Year. “If they have any disciplinary issues, they probably won’t get selected, and they know why.”
With camp instructors such as Penn State’s Curtis White, both high school cheerleaders and their respective coaches learn about advanced-level techniques and cheers they can take back to their prep squads.
“Coach White brings his male cheerleaders and teaches everyone how to coed stunt,” Garcia said. “They all are college coaches that come in and teach high schools how to do sideline cheers and chants.”
Garcia added that Sunlake has altered its entire cheer format based on what they’ve learned at Cheer Hawaii, aligning their squad to perform cheers similar to some of the premier Division I cheer programs.
“It has been really beneficial for us in competition and for sidelines,” Garcia said.
The results at Sunlake speak for themselves. This past season, the Seahawks had the highest scoring average in Pasco County — 74.51— and finished third in the Class 1A Small Division FHSAA (Florida High School Athletic Association) state finals. In 2014, Sunlake won the Class 1A Medium Division state title.
According to Garcia, the weeklong camp also benefits high school cheerleaders who have aspirations of cheering in college, by teaching them the steps needed to make that drastic leap.
“There’s a lot of Cheer Hawaii kids that go on to cheer in college, and they get a lot of pointers from them,” she said.
Additionally, high school cheerleaders and coaches alike learn several positive reinforcement techniques to use during the season. For example, after every practice, the Sunlake cheer team will do an activity called ‘Celebrations and Reminders,’ where teammates will ‘celebrate’ each other’s accomplishments— like a perfect stunt in practice — and provide ‘reminders’ of what they need to do for their next practice.
Garcia noted the activity is beneficial for empowering her team.
“It’s kind of like a ‘grab you, hug you’ type of thing,” she said, noting that teammates remember each other’s kind words to one another. “It’s just a positive way to say everything.”
For Sunlake, the camp kicks off the summer season, and serves as a kick-start in trying to remain as one of the top competitive cheer teams in Pasco.
Published March 30, 2016
