The Revere High School (RHS) competition cheer team puts in hours of work, days of practicing the same routine over and over again, and taking part in day-long competitions. After putting their hard work and dedication together, the team’s efforts are seen in their outcome at the competitions.
Sideline cheer is a common sport, where cheerleaders do chants and cheers during football and basketball games. Some people may think that sideline cheer is the same thing as competition cheer, although they are very different. RHS has a competition cheer team of their own who just placed third at a recent competition. Their success has just started and they have lots of competitions to go.
Kelly Staats, RHS cheer team coach, got involved in the community years ago because her daughter used to cheer. She then took over the head coach position because of her past experience.
“My oldest daughter was entering the youth and they didn’t really have anyone to coach. So I started then, probably back in 2004. I had previously coached while I was in college for the youth program from my hometown,” Staats said.
Emery Banks, a senior cheerleader, started cheering in sixth grade. She talked about why she first got into cheer and what sparked her interest in it.
“I was looking for things to do. I know my mom was a cheerleader and she was like ‘Oh, maybe you should try it out.’ Also, a lot of my friends wanted me to do it, so I thought it would be fun,” Banks said.
Similar to Banks, Madison Morrill, a junior, also got into cheerleading because of her mom and wanted to use it as an outlet to meet people.
“I was new to the school and my mom wanted me to do it so I could meet friends. . . . I remember not wanting to do it, but I’m glad I did,” Morrill said.
Staats addressed the difference between sideline cheer and competition cheer, explaining that cheerleaders on the competition squad must have a wider range of skills and be able to successfully complete them. She jumped into the specifics of what skills are needed to qualify for the team.
“They must have jumps connected to tumbling, running tumbling that consists of round off tucks [and] round off handspring tucks,” Staats said.
Morrill backed up Staats when talking about the difficulty of competition cheer, but said that ultimately it helped the team chemistry. She said how since it is much more intense, it makes everyone more unified. The challenges they face together make them a tighter-knit group.
“[Competition cheer] is a lot more serious. But I feel like doing competition cheer, you have a closer bond with the girls,” Morrill said.
Banks also addressed the differences between competition cheer and sideline cheer, saying since she is a veteran, she does not have to learn a lot more material for sideline cheer.
“We have to learn a whole routine. We have to have it perfect. . . . It’s a lot harder and a lot more brain power,” Banks said.
Banks dove into some of the challenges of competition cheer. She brought up that since it is more competitive and there is more on the line, injuries or other mishaps can add to the stress. When they are down a cheerleader, they have to block the routine and try to cover up the gaps that are missing.
“Competition cheer is just very stressful and it can get hard at times. Like if people fracture their back or if we don’t have enough people to compete, it just gets a little stressful,” Banks said.
Staats gave a brief overview of what a normal practice look like for the team and said how the majority of the time is spent tuning details of the routine. They keep running it until they get it perfect, in hopes to then perform perfect at the upcoming competition.
“We stretch, we warm up tumbling passes and then we pretty much hit our routine,” Staats said.
Banks said how her favorite thing about competition cheer is being able to compete because practices can get repetitive and tired. Like Staats mentioned, they spend a lot of time running the routine over and over again which can make these practices tedious.
“At practice, you go through it multiple times, you’re tired and you’re tumbling. It just doesn’t feel the same as competition because the mats are better, you’re cheering your teammates on, and it’s just really fun. Then after we get to see the awards and we get super excited,” Banks said.
Banks also talked about how the most important part is being communicative and friendly to your teammates. She said how it can be hard to not let the stress overwhelm you and in turn, take it out on your teammates.
“Being nice to your teammates [is important] because that can really make or break if other people keep going on with competition [cheer]. If the mat talk is good at competition then it really gets you going,” Banks said.
“Mat talk” is how cheerleaders refer to the talk while competing. Banks talked about how you need to stay in unison with each other and constantly stay hyping each other up. This mat talk adds to the unanimity of the routine and can help the cheerleaders receive a higher score.
Morrill agreed with this, saying how the support of her teammates is her favorite part of completion cheer. It truly was a full circle moment for Morrill, since she got into cheer to meet friends and now that’s what keeps her going.
“Being with my friends and motivating everyone. When everyone cheers each other on or someone is working hard to get something. Everyone kind of just being there for each other,” Morrill said.
Staats talked about the logistics of the choreography and how it comes together. This in hand correlates with how they plan their practices.
“I hired a choreographer and he extensively works with the rubrics that the competitions we attend adhere to. Kind of like a syllabus you would have in school. So you look at the feedback they gave you and then make some changes, if necessary,” Staats said.
She addressed some of the comments they get on these rubrics that they try to perfect to get a higher rating. It is oftentimes little things that they then focus on during the practices to ensure that it will not be a problem for future competitions.
“A lot of times we hear critiques like point your toes or if our tumbling passes were not timed well,” Staats said.
The squad recently attended a competition at McKinley Memorial where teams are drawn from all over the state, making it more competitive than just a regular competition.
Banks brought up how she was not sure how well they were going to do because all of these teams have been preparing together for months. She was very excited when they got third place and said how she thinks this is a good indicator for how the rest of the season will go.
“We thought we were going to get eight out of eight, but they kept counting down the numbers and we got super excited,” Banks said.
Staats addressed how she loves seeing the girls’ hard work put into action at the competitions. They spend an immense amount of time in the gym putting all the puzzle pieces together, so being able to see it pay off is extremely rewarding.
“My favorite part is watching the girls perform and achieve their goal. [A] clean routine, they performed at their highest level, the best that they can do,” Staats said.
This competition was just the start for the Revere competition cheer team, and they hope to advance to regionals and then states. They will continue to practice their routine to showcase their best abilities at these invitationals and bring home a trophy to put in the showcase.
