The Walpole High School Cheerleading team made a statement at the Massachusetts Secondary School Administrators’ Association State Tournament on Sunday, November 18th at Shrewsbury High School. The girls got a bid to the State Tournament on November 11th at the South Sectional Regional competition scoring a 175.25, the highest score in Rebel Cheerleading history.
The requirement score is 160 points to move forward onto States and 160 points is also required to move on from States to Nationals. The Rebels competed in the second session of the day with all Division 2 and 3 teams that qualified at Regionals. There were 24 teams total in the second session and only 8 qualified for Nationals, the Walpole Rebels being one of them. In Division 2, Dracut, Reading, Woburn, Walpole, Hopkinton, and Milford were the only teams to qualify for Nationals. The girls scored a 165.25, placing 4th in the state behind Dracut, Reading, and Woburn. Although their scores dropped 10 points from the South Sectional Regionals the week prior, the girls still scored high enough to receive the bid to Nationals that they had hoped to obtain.
The National Championships take place during the winter season; therefore, the Walpole Winter Cheerleading team will be attending the Cheerleaders of America Ultimate Pure National Championship, held March 29-30 at the Gaylord Palms Orlando in Orlando, Florida. The winter season will be the same athletes as the fall season for the most part despite a few girls having other commitments. Senior Captain Sam McChesney said, “This achievement shows that we are athletes and our bid to nationals has proven it. The cheerleading team is going further than all of the other male and female sports.” With all other fall season sports coming to an end because of falling short in games or disappointing endings, the cheerleading teams season is extending longer than any other sport at Walpole High School. McChesney said, “We want to show our Rebel Pride throughout the nation. It has proven that we deserve more recognition than the minimal amount we have previously received.”
This is the second time in school history that the Rebels have qualified for Nationals but this being the first time during a fall season. Last year, the varsity winter team went to Hartford, Connecticut and became National Champions. The girls are dreaming bigger this year and would like to continue their quest to become National Champions in Orlando, Florida. The team is going to have many fundraisers through out the winter to raise the needed, estimated $15,000 for the trip.
McChesney said, “With our new all-star coaches helping us every step of the way, we were able to accomplish a routine that we would have never thought was possible before.” Head coach Courtney Doherty provided the girls this year with extra help from extremely talented and intelligent all-star coaches Sean Bibeau and Mikey Hamel both from Methuen, Massachusetts. All of the coaches pushed the girls hard and gave them the critiques that were needed, that being a huge reason why the team was quite successful this the fall season. McChesney said,” Our jam packed, high skill level routine is what aided us in receiving our national bid in the fall and our team is packed with extremely talented athletes.” The Rebels elite partner stunt consisting of a ball-up followed by a switch-up to heel-stretch is the most skill packed stunt the Walpole Rebels have ever performed. With the new release move of fliping in the pyramid squence recently legalized to perform this year, the team and coaches took advantage of that skill to boost thier points. Looking from a tumbling prespective, the skill level was very high. The routine consisted of half the team throwing round-off-tucks to open up the tumbling sequence followed by 10 high skilled specialty tumbling passes. McChesney said, “Qualifying in the fall gives us a chance to actually fund raise, unlike when we qualified in the winter of 2011 and could only afford to go to Connecticut Nationals.” Fundraising will be a huge part of the girls winter season because they need all the help possible due to financial issues. The girls will be holding a “Drop and Shop” on the Fridays of 12/7, 12/14, and 12/21 for parents to drop their children off at Elm Street School with the team to play varieties of games and sports for $20 while the parents go Christmas shopping. The Rebels will also hold an annual February cheerleading clinic over February vacation for any youth aspiring to be a cheerleader. Many other fundraisers will be done by the girls to bring in as much money as they can so the girls will be able compete in the COA National Championships to finish the goal that they set out to reach at the beginning of the season.
