Cheer squad competes at state competition

The 14 members of the Chase County Schools cheer squad competed Feb. 22 at the 13th annual State Cheer Competition in Grand Island.
The squad competed in one category in the Game Day Division along with 19 other schools in Class C1.
“‘Game Day’ and now “Traditional” are the only two categories that allow stunts in cheer competition,” CCS Cheer Coach Amanda Kimble said.
One difficulty the squad faced when learning this year’s routine was finding adequate practice time.
“About half of our members are involved in other activities or sports,” Kimble said. “It can be mentally and physically challenging because we want the athlete to perform at their best for both teams, as well as keep up in school classes.”
Another challenge the team had was learning a new fight song other than the school’s traditional fight song, “On Wisconsin.”
“We found that over half the schools that participate at state competition have the same fight song,” Kimble said. “When (assistant coach) Ayla Smith and I attended a conference last year on how to improve for competitions, we raised the question, ‘How do teams keep the attention of the judges after eight teams before have the same fight song music?’”
One recommendation was to perform a non-traditional school fight song specifically for competition, while keeping their traditional fight song for home.
“This year’s squad took time to research other college fight songs and then voted for a favorite,” Kimble said.
“They chose ‘Boomer Sooner,’ and we were all very pleased to be one of the few, perhaps the only team, with this chosen song.”