Cheer Leopards spend time in camps

The Banks County varsity cheerleaders spent last week hard at work in the gym preparing for the coming sports seasons.

The varsity squad started the week learning new stunts with instructors from the National Cheerleading Association (NCA).

This year the BCHS Cheer Leopards brought the NCA instructors to the high school instead of attending the away camp.

“We were very pleased with the results. The squad made huge advancements on stunts and the NCA instructors worked with the coaches to create material for our specific needs,” said cheerleading coach Cadie Barron.

The instructors were able to spend more one-on-one time with the cheerleaders by coming to the high school than they would have at camp.

“We already have some dance, pep-rally, game-day, and stunt routines designed for the fall season,” Barron added. “Over half of our 2010-2011 squad members are new to the team so we also worked on a lot of team building exercises.”

The squad had six nominees for All-American this year with three winners.

Nominees to the All-American squad were Xena Anderson, Savanna Blalock, Victoria Prince and the three winners, Zoey Forrester, Taylor Ramsey and Jade Taylor.

At the end of the week, July 1-2, the varsity cheerleaders held the annual Little Leopard Cheer Camp. With 39 participants this year the camp nearly doubled the attendance from last year and the coaches hope to see the camp continue to grow next year.

The Little Leopards learned three different chants, a cheer and a dance routine.

According to Barron, the camp also taught the girls some cheerleading games such as ‘Rooster on the Roof’ and ‘Go Bananas,’ as well as sign making and face tattoos.

With the fall season a little over a month away the cheerleaders will not only be getting ready for the sidelines, but also for community involvement.

“As a squad that focuses on community involvement, our Leopard Cheerleaders will participate in the Leopard mentoring program this upcoming school year,” said Barron.

The mentoring program is focused on providing positive role models and encouraging the younger grades.