Midgets team places 8th in their division and Junior Pee Wees
finish in 12th place
Morgan Hill – For four years the Raiders’ Pop Warner Midgets cheer squad has been trying to get to the National Cheer and Dance Championships, last week they achieved their goal and along with the Raiders’ Junior Pee Wees cheer team and flew to Orlando, Fla. to participate in the National Championships at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.
The Midgets placed 8th in their division, while the Junior Pee Wees captured 12th place to represent Morgan Hill at the national venue.
“We did wonderful,” said Raiders’ Pop Warner Cheer coordinator Jodi Conti. “It’s quite an accomplishment and we’re really excited.”
The Junior Pee Wees squad (ages 8-11) competed with 19 other teams in their division, while the Midgets (ages 11-15) competed against 34 teams.
“They worked very hard,” said Midgets’ coach Shelly Solorio. “I thought we did very well, it was a big accomplishment for them.”
Both teams not only worked hard in competition and practice to get to the championships, they also worked hard in the past few weeks raising enough money fund the trip. The fundraising went right down to the wire and at the very end some parents came through to ensure the goal of $55,000 was met.
“Every child had a chance to go and come back with a DVD of their performance,” said Conti. “We are looking forward to start fundraising early this year so we don’t put so much pressure on the parents and the girls.”
According to Conti the teams were divided up by region and the Raiders teams were able to march into the arena with teams they usually compete against during the season.
“It was an opportunity to do some sportsmanship stuff,” explained Conti. “We got to cheer for teams we are usually competing against. They had a blast and were really excited.”
The Midget squad competed with a new routine they had been perfecting all season choreographed by veteran Raiders’ cheer team members Shanae Waters and Courtney Welch. The 2 1/2 minute routine was broken down into a dance-cheer-dance format.
“I thought they were going to be devastated with 8th place,” said Solorio, “But they accepted it with pride, you would have thought they had won first. They learned it’s OK to not always be perfect. They met every single goal they set for themselves at the beginning of the season, as individuals and as a team.”
All teams competing in the championships were rewarded with a blow-out dance party at the MGM on Friday night and during the week the teams got tickets to go to all the amusement parks.
“They had a dance party for all the teams and completely shut down the MGM. They had a great time, they got to dance and have fun,” said Solorio.
It wasn’t all fun and games, however, all the cheerleaders attended homework labs and did all of their independent studies for the week while in Florida. Conti stressed that academics are an important and each member must maintain at least a 2.0 gpa.
“We have a lot to be grateful for and proud of,” said Conti.
The Raiders’ teams are looking forward to the next season as they only lose two cheerleaders from the Midgets squad due to age.
