Cheer Team Places Eighth at ICCA State Competition

     On January 8, 2022, The Fenwick Cheer team crushed the competition, placing 8th at the ICCA state competition, the highest placement in cheer history at Fenwick. For the past couple of months, the team has worked with great effort to get that far, and those months of hard work paid off. Preparation started around mid October, specifically for competition season. The team experienced a lot of growth over those months as they approached the competition.

     Way back before the 2021-2022 school year started, Cheer began to prepare and train for football games. There are many differences between regular seasons and the dominating competition season. Head Coach Carlotta Fleming ‘13 said, “Practices for competitions are a little more focused than fall practices. In the fall, we are really working on learning skills, like stunting and tumbling, where competition practices are hyper focused on one routine. We still work on our stunts and tumbling, but it’s working to perfect what we know rather than learning new things.” 

     Members say that ever since they’ve tried out, competition season has been on their mind, and they are preparing for it the moment they make the team. As the time progresses, competition gets more intense, just like any other sport. As the intensity grew, the teammates knew that they would always be right by one another’s sides. According to Kaeli Brown ‘22, member of the cheer team, “…with team bonding, we’ve done meditation together at practices, along with bus ride dance parties. We also helped each other with hair and makeup before every competition and game we’ve had this season.” The bond among the cheer team members really helped everyone perform better. 

     To kick off competition season, and a foreshadowing moment, the Fenwick cheer team performed at the Fenwick state football game, which Fenwick ended up winning. This was the same routine they showcased at all of their competitions. Coach Fleming stated, “We were fortunate enough to perform at halftime at the Football State Championship! Doing our routine in front of that many people really helped shake competitive nerves going into our season!” Just having that experience and the pressure of performing at a state related championship increased the chance of performing exceptionally well.

     The Fenwick Cheer team has made history. With an exceptional year, even though sometimes COVID limited some traditions unique to the team, team members and coaches still made the most out of it, and they succeeded greatly. Cheer made a groundbreaking place at ICCA’s competition that will be celebrated and cherished!