Hempfield Area cheerleading team wins back-to-back national championships

When the Hempfield Area Competitive Cheer team travels to Orlando, Fla., each year for the National High School Cheerleading Championships, they go to win.

This year, the Hempfield Area Competition Cheer senior club team brought home its sixth national championship title and the satisfaction of becoming back-to-back champions, coach Suzannah Mayer said. The competition was held Feb. 8 and 9 at Walt Disney World.

“Our team was absolutely thrilled and honored that the judges scored us high enough to become national champions,” she said. “There’s a lot of ups and downs throughout such a long season, and this team peaked at just the right moment. … The amount of nerves and pressure these young athletes endure and how they handle the pressure in this moment is their biggest challenge.”

The club team competed against 14 other groups for the title after sweeping the semifinal round, Mayer said. According to Mayer, 22 girls under 14 worked for nine months “for one chance to perform a routine to your best ability.”

The club team was not the only Hempfield group to place at the event. The senior rec team placed sixth in its division, while the high school program placed fifth in the game day division, a competition based on leading the crowd.

To qualify, teams must earn bids through regional competitions. In all, the competition attracts more than 900 teams and 18,000 athletes, who compete at various events based on school size, the number of team members and rec and club designations.

“This is the most prestigious national cheerleading competition in the world,” Mayer said. “We feel blessed and honored to be a part of it.”

The competition marks an end to a season that runs from early May to February. The Hempfield team competed at local competitions mid-October through early December, preparing for the national championship.

“Our goal, of course, is to train our athletes and prepare them for competition so they have the best chance to have success,” Mayer said. “We are equally focused on preparing them for the real world by teaching them perseverance, teamwork, time management and commitment.

“All we want is to make a positive change and difference in the lives of these kids. Sometimes as coaches, you don’t realize ’til it’s over just how much these kids end up changing you.”