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Dreads record a season-high score at Gibralter Carlson District, excited for future of the sport
By Jesse Linton
For the first time in Dexter High School history there is a competitive cheerleading team.
Competitive cheer is a sport that is often over- looked, and although some may say that it looks easy, participants disagree.
“The variation of cheer is a lot more intense and takes way more dedication, commitment, and tireless hours of practice,” sophomore Emily O’Keefe said.
The cheerleader’s at DHS are very enthusiastic and persistent about what they do. With 2016 being the first year for the sport at the high school, many sideline cheerleaders finally had the opportunity to be apart of the new competitive cheer team.
Although competitive cheer shares a few similarities to sideline cheer, competitive cheer requires a different set of skills. While sideline cheerleaders attend football games and lead cheers to keep the team and fans motivated as well as performing stunts on“the sidelines, junior Kaylee Priest said competitive cheer involves “more difficult tumbling and stunting.”
During a competitive cheer competition, there are between seven and 25 teams competing against each other by performing a series of cheers, stunts, and tumbling routines.
There are three rounds at each competition. The first round consists of cheer with jumps mixed in. The second round ads tumbling to cheering and jumping while the third round consists of stunting, tumbling and occasional jumps during a cheer. Each round last approximately three minutes and is scored on voices, formations, stiff motions, the difficulty of those motions, and enthusiastic smiles.
“The variation of cheer is a lot more intense and takes way more dedication, commitment, and tireless hours of practice.”
–sophomore Emily O’Keefe
Many of the team members have also been on sideline cheer for many years. That, multiple cheerleaders said, contributed to their success this season.
“I’ve always wanted to do competitive cheerleading,” junior Ally Winkle said. “When I found out there was going to be a competitive cheer team for Dexter I got really excited.”
Freshman Tara Nixon shared Winkle’s excitement.
“The biggest reason why I started to do competitive cheer is I’ve always wanted to try it,” Nixon said. “I’ve been cheering for a long time.”
The Dreads performed well in the first year of competition, placing in the top five in several com- petitions. Dexter’s first competition was at Onsted Invitational where the team placed fifth. in its division. The Dreads followed that up by placing second at the Whitmore Lake competition, second at the Lincoln competition, and third at the Jackson Northwest competition.
“The strongest aspect of our team is our willingness to work hard and try new things despite being a new team,” senior Kylie Busdeker said.
O’Keefe agreed, adding the team works together extremely well.
Team members all said they were satisfied with their effort in what they agreed was a successful first season.
“We got second and third a few time, which isn’t bad since we started from ground zero,” said Winkle, who broker her arm and dislocated her elbow during the season. “It wasn’t (a success) for me because I wasn’t in many competitions because of my injury, but as a whole team they did great.”
Despite their success, the new team did face some challenges. These challenges were mostly because they didn’t know what to expect.
“Being new to the competition world was a major obstacle for us,” O’Keefe said. “There’s a lot more tumbling involved and it’s more physically demanding. We had to adapt to this and condition our bodies better.”
Junior Kara Vogel cited injuries as the biggest obstacle.
“We had back injuries, shoulder injuries, wrist injuries,” Vogel said. “Everyone who got hurt was a major player in one of the rounds. When they got taken out someone else had to step up. Sometimes it takes a long time to get those skills.”
Team members agreed that there are considerably more of these required skills in competitive cheer compared to sideline cheer. They also agreed that tumbling and stunting are the most difficult parts of competitive cheerleading.
“We need to work on our tumbling and stunting,” Nixon said.
The Dreads learned a lot from their first season and now know what to expect for future seasons. “This year we didn’t know what to expect, so next year the team will be more prepared and will improve with time and effort,” Busdeker said. Senior Courtney Caesar sees the team improving well past next year.
“I hope that the competitive cheer team continues to grow and improve in the next few years,” Caesar said. “I think that as the years go on the team will become more organized and it will be more enjoyable for the cheerleaders.”
