Marlton Telegram

By AUBRIE GEORGE | The Marlton Telegram
Varsity cheerleaders at Cherokee High School spend the first part of their season cheering from the sidelines at Cherokee Chiefs varsity football games.
But when competition season hits, it’s their turn to take center stage.
In mid-December, the 32 girls who make up the varsity squad traveled to Fort Worth, Texas, for a cheerleading competition.
They went there, to the America’s Best Super Nationals, to perform the routine they’ve been practicing and perfecting every day since they learned it in August. 
They returned home as Grand National Champions.
To be named Grand National Champions, the Cherokee varsity cheerleaders scored highest, overall, to defeat all of the other recreational and high school teams during the two-day competition at the Fort Worth Convention Center.
In cheerleading competitions, teams are judged in a variety of different categories that make up their routine including jumps, stunts, tumbling, motions, dance and overall performance. Judges award points in each category based on the team’s execution and the level of difficulty, as well as other aspects such as transitions, choreography and facial expressions, to come up with an overall score.
Cherokee competed against about 13 other teams from all over the U.S. to win the coveted Grand National Champion title.
Lindsay Furman, who has coached the team for the past two years, said it was the varsity squad’s exceptional determination this season and that helped crown it Grand National champs.
“They’re an outstanding group of kids,” Furman said. “They worked extremely hard, they were dedicated, they wanted it, and they never gave up.”
Cherokee’s varsity cheerleaders begin their season with tryouts in August and continue until mid-December, Furman said. 
Throughout those months, the team practices Monday through Friday for three hours each day in Cherokee’s gym.  There, with Furman’s guidance, the girls worked on their routine and honed their cheerleading skills, including tumbling and stunts.
They begin working on a routine in August so that they’re ready to take it before competition judges come fall, Furman said.
Furman said the girls compete in a series of competitions throughout the fall through the end of their season in December.
The Cherokee cheerleaders will hold the title of Grand National Champions until at least next year when they return to the same competition to defend it. Winning the title won the team free registration for next year’s competition, Furman said.
Furman said the competition’s location changes each year.
“It will be the same competition run by the same people, it will just be in a different place,” Furman said.
Furman said she was proud of the squad for its hard work and determination throughout the season.
“They worked really hard and had to work through a lot of injuries. When somebody gets hurt, they have to instantly pick up the pieces and fix it and make sure that it works, work people in and out of the routine, and that’s hard.
“They were 100 percent dedicated to making sure that it worked this year,” Furman said. “I’m really proud of them.”