Let's Turn the Blue Mats Purple

by Sky Roberts

February 11, 2013

On Thursday, January 17, 2013, the Avila Cheerleading squad nervously made their way to the Disney All-Star Resort in Orlando, Florida for the College Cheerleading Nationals. Avila Cheerleading had qualified for nationals earlier in the year and it was finally time to compete. The National competition was held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. Settling into the rooms was only the beginning of the trip, as the team had to meet for their scheduled practice at the HP Arena. “It always makes you nervous seeing the other teams warm up, especially the ones you’re competing against,” said Gabby Sysavath, sophomore at Avila University. This was her second time competing at the College Cheerleading Nationals. Sysavath explained what the scheduled practice would look like. “You only have twenty minutes for this warm up; the next time you do the routine, it will be the real thing.” The Avila Cheerleaders warmed up, getting all of their anxious nerves out, becoming more confident of the competition. After warm-ups had gone well, the Avila Cheerleaders left to their hotel rooms, anxiously awaiting Saturday morning. “We could hardly have a good time the next day—we were all ready to compete and the nerves began to really get to us with the anticipation,” said Megan Linder, senior at Avila University. The Avila cheerleaders agreed that the longer the wait for the competition, the worse the feeling had gotten. After a long Friday of short practices and activities to fill their day, the cheerleaders knew that the time was actually here—they competed the next day. The head coach Melissa Shipman called for a team meeting in her hotel room with the team and the rest of the coaches. “No one could really speak. There was nothing to say besides the same things we had been saying. It was time to put these dreams into action and the time was coming on us quickly,” said junior Aimee Adams. There were tears, nerves, and determination—all shared within each other; all ready to take the floor.

Six in the morning arrived in no time as the Avila cheerleaders became competition ready. “The warm up didn’t exactly go as planned, but it isn’t supposed to,” said Linder. The cheerleaders were surrounded by their biggest competitions—this set some of the athletes into a more than nervous state. Even so, there was no time to feel anything as the cheerleaders were approaching their competition time faster than they were ready for. “The competition never actually hit me until we were behind the castle about to walk onto the mat for our first routine,” told Sysavath. After a solid routine, the girls stepped off of the mat feeling confident. Only a few teams after, Avila had also watched their biggest competition hit a perfect routine. The confidence was still there, but now there was a threat.

The feeling had only gotten worse as the semi-finals score sheets had been received. In good news, the Avila cheerleaders had made it to finals along with five other talented teams. Though they were in third place and had a lot of comments of things that needed to be worked on. “This stressed a lot of the girls out. We knew our competition was ahead of us and that we only had a couple of hours to make these changes,” said Sysavath. Coach Shipman called for another practice on a field outside of the HP Arena. Some girls discouraged, other’s nerves taking them over, the practice brought even more stress onto the team. “Something needed to be done. We had to add in a skill that would show the judges who really should be in first place,” said Evans. After a tough decision between the coaches, the cheerleaders would be adding in a harder stunt that they had struggled with in the past. There was nothing to lose; it was time to leave it on the mat—all or nothing.

Photo by Jim Jimenez

The Avila cheerleaders walked onto the mat with the most confidence they’ve had yet. Ready to hit a perfect routine and take the number one spot, they set their positions and anxiously awaited the beginning of the music. “I thought we had hit a perfect routine, even the stunt we had thrown in last minute. I was so excited until I saw one of the girls crying,” said Sysavath. During one of the pyramid sequences, there was a fall—a fall that could have cost their routine completely. The girls instantly thought it was over. “To make it even worse, our competition hit their routine perfectly. None of us thought there was any chance. We were all defeated,” Sysavath said. Coach Shipman called for one last meeting. The cheerleaders met in the same spot they practiced in—full of tears and expressions of disappointment. “Coach tried everything to make us feel better but nothing could really fix it. This was our year,” said Sysavath. The cheerleaders parted ways until the awards ceremony. They met on the mat for the last time. “I didn’t even want to be there. We worked so hard all year, I didn’t want it to go to waste,” said Adams. The awards for Avila’s division—Open All Girl—were being announced. Fifth place, Riverside Community College; fourth place, Misercordia. “It already felt good to know that we were at least top three, that’s better than we have ever done as cheerleaders,” said Adams. Third place, The College of New Jersey. “I was so proud of us for getting second, all of our hard work had paid off.” Second place, Nassau Community College.

The Avila cheerleaders were in shock. Some were already crying; they knew they had done it. “I didn’t even hear the announcer call our name for first place. I was already screaming,” said Linder. The Avila cheerleaders had done it—turned the blue mats purple.

Photos by Jim Jimenez