Waterford wins Norfolk cheer competition
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Cheer is alive and well in Norfolk County.
Four secondary school teams competed in the first Norfolk Invitational Cheerleading Competition on March 27, a full cheer stunting event in front of a full-house audience at Simcoe Composite School.
“It was awesome,” said VHSS coach Alison High.
Waterford cheerleader Meenah Deboer said she was “super excited” about the competition.
“I was nervous before, but once we got here there was like this energy, this spirit where you feel like you’re in the right moment… like you’re meant to be here, you’re meant to perform.”
“When I got here, I was pretty nervous,” admitted Waterford cheerleader Arnie Lalone, who remembers competing at NSSAA in Grade 9. “After that it felt amazing to go on the floor and ‘just go.’”
The four teams – Valley Heights Secondary School, Simcoe Composite School, Waterford District High School and Delhi District Secondary School – each did their two-and-a-half minute routines twice.
Waterford was the final team to perform in the first run, and first in the second half of the competition. When the final scores were tabulated, Waterford was awarded first place.
“Honestly, it felt good going first and last,” said Lalone.
Deboer credited Waterford’s coaches for their trophy-winning routine.
“Their dedication to our team was amazing,” said Deboer. “They’re always on point telling us to be clean. If we mess up, we smile. If the music stops, we start counting, or if it stalls, we keep on going.”
Second place went to Simcoe Composite School, host of Norfolk’s first invitational cheer competition, which was modelled after the NSSAA championships last held in January 2020.
“I would say this is probably one of our favourite competitions because it’s our hometown, it’s our friends, family, everyone can make it,” said SCS coach Tracy Boswell. “Some competitions are so far away, it’s hard.”
An audience of 300-plus people cheered on the cheerleaders.
“The team has been so excited to do this,” said Boswell. “A lot of them were very, very nervous. It’s different when it’s a room full of people you don’t know, and a room full of people you know… it’s very different. So they were very eager and excited to do this.”
Several Norfolk cheer teams will be competing in an OFSAA Regional event in Welland on April 6, including SCS.
“This (regional) competition will be on a greater scale. I think there are nine teams in our division and 19 in total. The travelling is always fun and makes it exciting. We went to Ottawa last year and it’s just a fun experience.”
Boswell said this year’s Sabres had two Grade 12s and “a lot of Grade 10s.”
“This is a big team for us. We had 23, which means 20 of them are under 16-17 years old. Last year, everybody was brand new. I’ve been coaching here for seven years, and I had never started brand new… it was absolutely wild. But it’s nice to start them young. As they get older, they can take on more things.”
Valley Heights also had a young team this season, noted High.
“I see a ton of potential in the group I’ve got right now,” said High. “I’ve got a couple that are graduating this year – and we’ll miss them a lot because they’ve been super solid for a few years – but I’ve got some great Grade 11s coming up… and my 9s and 10s are new, but they are so keen and they’re willing to try new things. They work so hard – they always ask for more practices. And they’re such a nice, nice group, so great to work with.”
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