To become a Varsity cheerleader it takes years and years of training to acquire the skills that are acceptable for the team. Freshman Kayla Waters has proven that very wrong. She had never cheered a day in her life before she tried out on June 8th. Right off the bat the coaches knew she had great potential and was one of the best tumbling out on the mat. She had to surpass the 8 cuts and 20 spots on junior varsity to earn a spot on varsity over some girls who have been cheering for years. Not only is it difficult for a good freshman to make varsity, but it is nearly impossible for a newbie to earn a spot on the team. She did it along with 3 other freshman who have been cheering most of their lives.
Kayla keeps improving every day and quite frankly faster than anyone else. She has competed in 2 National-International Championships becoming the 2011 National All Around 1st place Champion and placed 4th in 2012 International floor exercise for gymnastics. Waters has been all about gymnastics all her life but has decided on a change. Waters said, “I’ve always wanted to try cheerleading ever since I was in elementary school but I never had the time or money to do it because I was at gymnastics practices all the time. When high school came I thought it was the perfect opportunity to start, to try something new”. Most people would say that high school is too late to start cheerleading, but her outstanding athletic and gymnastic ability has just blown most people away.
It was clear going into this season she was going to be a huge asset tumbling wise for our team, but cheerleading is much more than tumbling. Waters said, “The jumps were harder than I thought. I do jumps in gymnastics so I assumed jumps in cheerleading were the same thing, I was wrong. Cheerleading is completely different. I always dreaded doing jumps in practice because I never did them right. It took me a while to correct my habits, but now I love jumping!” There were a lot of things she needed to improve on because there are many different areas in cheerleading you need to be skilled in. The sport is demanding and you must be dedicated to the team right away. She said, “I didnt expect cheerleading to have so much time put into it. I never knew how hard we have to work to get what we are trying to accomplish”. Waters is working hard at practice and even improving her already amazing gymnastics skills each day at practice. Landing her full for the first time last week on the hard mat, rather than the spring floor she is used to, was a huge accomplishment and will rack up some more points at competitions soon to come. She said, “I think the team appreciates what I do have for skills and I think we will be very successful this year”. Waters picked things up very quickly and fit in right away looking like she has been cheering for years.
Waters has made her commitment to cheerleading and started a new adventure in her life. She has now made her way into one of the main showcases of the routine. With the second to last tumbling pass, last pass being the best, and a fierce tumbling sequence during the opening of the routine, she proves herself worthy of being on this team. Waters said, “If I was asked this question when I first started, I would have said gymnastics. But now, Ive been spending so much time at cheer practices and with my team that I could never leave the sport or my teammates. I love cheerleading. Ever since I started cheering, I have been going to gymnastics practices less and less. I didn’t know how much fun cheering is!” Rebel Cheerleading looks forward to showcasing her talents and having her on the team for her next 4 years.
