Sydney Tran, staff writer
Eleanor Bogart-Stuart, staff writer
B-E-V-E-R-L-Y C-H-E-E-R!  What does that spell? A team who has qualified for a national cheer competition taking place in Las Vegas this weekend.
The Beverly cheer team earned fourth place at last year’s national competition, and ever since has been extremely dedicated in the pursuit of another finalist position in the 2016 National High School Cheerleading Championship.
“We’ve been preparing for this competition since the beginning of the year. We started really forming the routine in November,” senior co-captain Danni Jo Martincak said.
The routine that the team will perform in Las Vegas was choreographed by their newest coach, Jimmy Sanford.
“He basically starts with us having a lot of different stunts, and then works the dance around the stunts,” Martincak said.
The routine finally took shape in December, when the team began to work three to five days each week on its choreography specifically.
“Our coach is making a lot of changes still so we’re still working on those which is really hard. Mostly we work on the stunts which is the hardest part,” junior Madison Kiper said.
The hard work each member contributed is a direct result of how highly they view the competition. In the cheer world, this is a huge moment.
“It’s important to me because we all worked so hard to improve in our stunting and cheerleading,” freshman Alexa Sanchez said.
The competition is being hosted by the United Spirit Association (USA), a national company dedicated to the sponsorship of both high school and college cheer squads. If cheer teams had a governing body, this would be it. The new cheer coach happens to be the vice president of the association, which might lead to some special perks.
“I feel like we’re going to be treated a lot better and have a lot of priorities. We’re excited to represent him and what he’s been doing,” Martincak said.
Even those who’ve never attended the event before are excited.
“I’m looking forward to competing against other teams because I feel like as a team we all worked so hard for this,” Sanchez said. “It’ll be fun, win or lose, no matter what we do.”