Soaring Spirit
OCIAA Cheerleading Competition Evinces Amazing Team Efforts, Awesome Athleticism, Synchronicity, Uplifting Exuberance And Just Plain Joy; Pine Bush, Washingtonville and Burke Are First Place Finishers But All Other Teams Are Anything But Runner Ups And Also-Rans
Large Squad Division I: Pine Bush 93.68; Minisink Valley 89.65; Monticello 72.38
Small Squad Division I: Washingtonville 83.15; Cornwall 81.80; Newburgh Free Academy 80.05
Division II: John S. Burke Catholic 74.53; Highland 72.53; James I. O’Neill 64.65
By RICHARD A. ROSS
Lights, Camera, Action: Scenes from the OCIAA Cheerleading Competition (clockwise): Pine Bush wins Division I Large Squad title, Monticello stages is best performance and garners third in large squad set to. Washingtonville is tops in Div. I small squad, Valley Central shows how it's done. Fallsburg Comets streak by with heavenly grace. Monties show their pride with their placing in the top three. Seward Lady Spartans are superb. Burke Eagles Soar to first in Div. II. Lovely beyond words...that's Liberty! Without the music of Sound Wizards Entertainment's DJ Kenny Vandermark, the day wouldn't have been the same. NFA's cheerleaders leap in unison. Center stage are the flying Dragons of Cornwall.
LOCH SHELDRAKE, NY—Did your face ever hurt from non-stop smiling? Mine did after the 2011 OCIAA Cheerleading Competition as team after team showed their unbelievable zeal and the payback for incredibly rigorous practice in a series of four-minute routines that rocked the Paul Gerry Fieldhouse at Sullivan County Community College.
Pulsing to the great music offered up by DJ Kenny Vandermark of Sound Wizards Entertainment, each team followed up its opening cheering segment with a dance/tumble/stunt routine that enraptured the crowd. Bodies were tossed to startling heights, pyramids of cheerleaders balanced evincing great strength from the members holding them up and unwavering courage of those held aloft.
The packed crowd loved every minute of it and you could tell by the smiling faces, the outpouring of emotion as each team concluded its piece and the cheers from the assembled hordes who just couldn’t get enough, that this was the perfect blend of athleticism and entertainment.
To people who have never witnessed such intense competitions, the idea of cheerleading stays in the dark ages of stereotyping that regards participants as anything but athletes. As I wrote in my article on this website entitled “Exuberant Uprising,” I am thankful to no longer be in possession of such misinformed thinking.
Once and for all, I’ll say it again: Cheerleading is a sport and if you think anything to the contrary I defy you to do what these young athletes do. I challenge you to undergo the rigorous training, the endless repetition and the muscle rending aches and pains that go along with honing a squad performance into the kind of unified precision on display in this event.
Sixteen teams arrived at SCCC, which was hosting its first ever OCIAA Cheerleading completion. As Sullivan County Community College Cheerleading Head Coach Janna Warden noted after the enthusiastic reception to the day’s proceedings, “It’s been really good for Sullivan County Community College and the high schools . It’s great to use this facility to help promote cheerleading in Sullivan County where you still have some negative perception of what cheerleading is about,” she noted.
“Today some of our basketball and baseball players were roaming through with comments like, Oh my goodness I’ve never seen cheerleading like this before. They, like many others on hand had an eye opening experience.”
The impact and value of the competition was summed up well by OCIAA Chairperson Jason Semo. “You see the pressure on the teams and understand the time they’ve put in on their routines. Not just the cheerleaders, but the coaches and the community are greatly involved. Talk about respect, there’s so much of that between the various competing teams.”
It was also apparent to Semo, as it was to all onlookers how much fun the participants were having while they worked assiduously to give it their all.
Semo lauded the college and Athletic Director Chris DePew as this venue was perfect for the event. Chris and the college staff are great to work with.”
Pine Bush simply wowed the audience with its complex and perfectly coordinated routine. Winners of many such competitions, Pine Bush was the heavy favorite to add another title to their storehouse and they did in the large squad division by outpointing second place Minisink Valley, another bastion of fine cheerleading.
But for the locals of Sullivan County to have Monticello place third had to be best news of the day, especially for nine-year veteran cheerleading coach Kelly Keesler. ‘I have never been so proud of my team before. We had a rough season with competitions but I knew what their skill level was. They really put it together on the most important day. With 14 seniors leaving, many of whom have been with her for years, this was a great finale for the Monties.
In the small squad of Division I, it was experienced Washingtonville that claimed top honors. Having seen them before at the Monticello competition, I for one knew the audience was in for a lively treat when the Wizards took the floor.
In second place was compelling Cornwall, a school that seems to be successful in every single sport in the athletic canon. High flying Lady Dragons had the crowd gasping for breath. In third place was rhythmic NFA with their navy blue and gold uniforms becoming a blur of movement and grace across the floor.
Burke Catholic won Division II with its routine with Highland and O”Neill not far behind in their cheerleading acumen. Lively and entertaining routines were turned in by Sullivan County’s Fallsburg and Liberty. Both squads had hordes of fans on hand to cheer for them.
Prior to announcing the awards all of the cheerleaders amassed on the floor to dance. Smiles were flashed, moves were busted, bodies ebbed and swayed and cameras flashed away. The amicability, camaraderie and harmonious interaction was a moving sight. I loved every minute of it.
The judges rendered their assessment based on complex criteria used to evaluate countless aspects of the sophisticated sport. Needless to say, their expertise in determining what makes for successful routines was exemplary.
Since
my inititation into the true rites of the sport, I now find myself
paying far more attention to cheerleaders at games and not regarding
them as mere accents to what is clearly the main course of the night,
namely great basketball.
For an album of photos and instructions on how to order reprints and other keepsakes, CLICK HERE:
http://richwriter.dotphoto.com/CPListAlbums.asp
To obtain a CD of all the pictures of a particular team or of the entire day’s proceedings, e-mail me, Richard at
