Cheer brought back home the national title in the JAMZ School Cheer Nationals last January. The team won the Varsity Non-Tumbling Level One section.
According to coach Joanna Trocan, the team performed exceptionally throughout the season, but were held back by numerous deductions in the competitions they participated in prior to JAMZ.
“When they went to the CIF finals, they got fourth place. But looking at their raw score, if it wasn’t for the deduction that we had, they would have won the CIF finals.”
Cheers’ raw overall score was the highest, even out of the CIF finalists.
“If an athlete touches the ground, if a girl falls from a stunt—those take points off of your raw score,” said Trocan.
Trocan said that the seniors were upset with themselves, and that they knew that “this was their legacy. They realized it was their last chance.”
“They got to a point in the season where they really wanted to prove themselves,” Trocan said.
This was also the first time the team had a sixth period. This allowed the team to practice five times a week in order to prepare as much as possible.
During the competition in Las Vegas, the team managed to perform the routine with no mistakes, a flawless “Hit Zero,” on the first day of the competition.
“This year, they had the most difficult routine that they could have, and managed to hit the routine both days,” Trocan said.
With the Gondoliers being crowned with the National Title, they sought ways to protect their national title next year as nine of the twenty-three cheerleaders are leaving.
“The seniors are helping the JV’s create a competition routine that they’ll perform,” Trocan said. “Not at a local high school competition, just to get them the experience of what it’s like to get on the floor.
“It shows how connected the team is, it’s so much bigger than the individual and that’s why I think this year was so special.”
This upcoming spring, the cheer team is transitioning into stunt season.
In cheer competitions, teams are judged individually while stunt teams perform the same routine as the others.
“The focus is how you can perfect the actual skills that are essentially pieced together,” Trocan said. “It’s a matter of five people working together so precisely that they’re on the exact same page.”
In order to maximize their potential for stunt season, the Gondoliers must “continue their strength building, and increase a little bit more just upper body strength,” Trocan said.
“Obviously they’re already strong, just that they’ll need to focus on more of the repetitiveness of doing that skill over and over again until it’s literally perfect.”
