Cheer Team Excels At National Meet

  • The team at last weekend's Valentine's Dance on Saturday, Feb. 13.

    The team at last weekend's Valentine's Dance on Saturday, Feb. 13.

By Delorah Latham, Coach

It’s official: The Mountain Communities are now home to one of the nation’s top youth cheerleading teams.

Frazier Mountain Youth Cheerleading was founded in June 2009. They immediately began working hard to learn what it takes to become a competitive youth squad. The team’s first competition was a regional meet at Magic Mountain in Santa Clarita on November 22, 2009. They took first place in their “show cheer” division and third place in their “pom-pon” division. Their scores qualified them to compete at the JAMZ National Youth Cheer meet, which is the highest competition a youth squad can attend. Thanks to a ton of support from the community, the team raised nearly $2,000 and was able to compete.

The national meet was huge! Competition lasted four days at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Nearly 600 teams (at least 15,000 cheerleaders) competed in 80 divisions over the course of the weekend. On February 2 the Frazier Mountain team competed in both show cheer and pom-pon divisions. In their very first year, they placed sixth in the nation in both divisions. The team is extremely grateful for the community’s support and very proud to rank so high in the nation. The national meet was only the second competition for the team.

Next they will enter the PPAACC (Pep and Pageantry Arts Association of Central California) series which lasts through the rest of the season. The competitions are held at high schools in Bakersfield.

Frazier Mountain Youth Cheerleading seeks the support of the community. Anyone who wants to come cheer them on can find a competition schedule at www.ppaacc.com.

On February 13 the team’s parent committee hosted a Sweetheart Cake Auction and a Valentine’s Dance for youth 4th grade and up. Both events benefited the team’s effort to gain nonprofit status and to help with costs for next season. We are thinking ahead. The costs of this sport includes competitions and travel. It can add up.

The team and parents thank everyone who attended their events to make them a success.

If anyone you know is interested in joining the team for next season, the age limit has been lowered. It was 7 to 14 in 2009-10, but will be 5-12 for the 2010-11 season. The cost has also been lowered 40 percent, to $300 for the season. Registration for the new season begins in May. Practice begins June 1. Visit the team’s myspace page at: www.myspace.com/fraziermtnyouthcheer and call the coach at 245-3534 with questions.

This is part of the February 19, 2010 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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