Headed to Nationals

For the first time ever, the Berryville High School cheerleaders are going to nationals.

The Bobcat cheerleaders will compete Jan. 24-26 in the National Cheerleaders Association High School Nationals at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas.

The squad earned its spot in nationals by finishing in the top four among 18 Class 4A squads at the state cheer competition Saturday, Dec. 21, at Bank OZK Arena in Hot Springs.

“I think this is the first time in school history that we’ve ever been to nationals,” said Berryville cheer coach Candace Curtis. “I know that there was one time before that they made fourth place at state, but they did not go to nationals that year. So this would be the first time in school history that we’ve ever gone.”

Curtis said her athletes are thrilled to be headed to nationals— especially given the adversity they overcame to get there.

“They’re so excited because, throughout the competition season, we had so many illnesses and injuries and we never performed the same routine twice. We had to consistently change it. We even had to change it the night before state competition because I had a girl fall sick. They’ve faced so much adversity this season, but they have come out and performed and done everything that I asked them to do and they’ve just been amazing this year. It’s been awesome.”

Cheerleading requires hard work and repetition. Curtis said her team has been practicing for months to perform at its best.

“We learn our routine in July and we’ve been working on this one routine since July,” she said. “We practice every day during school and we have two nights a week that we have three-hour practices just for competitions. So there’s a lot of prep that goes into it that people just don’t see.” Curtis said Berryville had 25 cheerleaders on the mat at the state competition with three alternates.

“We’ll only put 23 on mat at nationals because the divisions are a little bit different at nationals,” she said. “If we were to put all 28 on the floor, it would put us in a higher bracket and we would be going up against like 6A and 7A schools. So we have to drop down a little bit for nationals.”

Each cheerleader has her own set of skills, all of them important to the squad’s overall success.

“We have some that do stunts and we have tumbling,” Curtis said. “We even have girls in the back that do flags and you’d think that flags aren’t a big deal but the timing of the flags and how they do it, we have to practice all of that. So there’s a lot that goes into it, for sure.”

Curtis said the Berryville cheerleaders are raising funds for their trip to nationals.

“We fundraise all year long, because cheerleading is just so expensive, just our uniforms and the things that they have to have,” she said. “But we’ve been trying to plan to fundraise more this year for nationals. We’ve got some fundraisers going on right now. Our girls have individual fundraisers that they’re doing and we also have a sponsorship program that we’re about to start. It’s kind of similar to our ads that we sell during the summer for our sports programs. But it’s going to be more like a sponsorship program that we’re going to do because it’s not cheap. It’s probably going to be upwards of $10,000 for us to be able to go.” Anyone who’d like to contribute to the cheerleaders can contact Curtis at 870-4804620, extension 4687, or berryvillecheer@gmail.com.