Squads increase intensity for competition (Photo by John Schreiber, The Daily Campus)

Though the cheer team and pom squad have known since July, team members say it’s not until now that the teams are raising the bar for competition and intensifying their practices.

The cheerleading and dance teams earned their bids after showing a promising and capable routine at camp this summer. To be eligible for the national championship for both cheerleading and dance, camp attendance is a requirement, and the tryouts occur throughout camp. This past summer, SMU’s cheer and pom squads gained eligibility at the National Cheerleading and Dance Association Collegiate Camp hosted at SMU.

For the past two years, the cheerleading team has attended the national championship, making it to the top 10 in last year’s competition. Some of the other schools that made it to the finals were Texas Christian University, University of Louisville and University of Colorado-Boulder. For the first time, though, the National Dance Academy has given SMU’s pom squad an opportunity to compete against the nation’s most advanced teams.

The National Chic-Fil-A Cheer and Dance Collegiate Championship will be held from April 5 through April 9 in Daytona Beach, Fla.

With a co-ed squad consisting of 20 girls and eight boys, the cheerleading team’s co-captain Kelly McKinney said she is very optimistic about this year’s championship and their progression over the semester.

“We are very ready and we are starting to work on our routine,” McKinney said.

Sharing McKinney’s positive attitude, co-captain and junior Ashley Whisnant said her biggest concern is not their skill capability but remaining healthy throughout the next few months.

“Keeping everyone healthy is important,” Whisnant said. “Everyone is really valuable and we don’t want anyone getting hurt or sick before the championship.”

Another challenge the team faces is learning and adopting the new rules and regulations the National Cheerleading Association has made for this year’s competition. Zack Brannon, SMU’s cheerleading coach, says this year’s rules will heavily affect the way each performance is scored. According to Brannon the new tumbling rule eliminates advanced tumbling moves, limiting capable teams of only performing basic maneuvers.

“This means that teams that usually are ranked at a seven or eight level are now being considered a nine or 10,” Brannon said.

A rookie to the team, Chad Chokel, a graduate student and former diver at SMU, said he is excited to attend nationals. With a background in gymnastics, Chokel has found the transition from diver to cheerleader easy. He said what he will have to work on the most for the championships is overcoming what he refers to as “white-boy syndrome.”

” I have no rhythm, so it will be hard to learn the dance moves. I’ll have to practice getting all the right moves down at the right time of the music,” Chokel said.

Similarly, SMU’s mom squad will be sharpening its dance skills as it perfects every leap and turn for its champsionship routine within the next few months. With basketball games acting as its biggest practices, the pom squad is adding an extra day every week to practice in hopes of minimizing any errors in its routine.

Co-captain of this year’s squad Aly Wilson is very excited to be attending nationals for the first time and said that with the assistance of the team’s new choreographer, she plans to excel at nationals.

“Our Coach Lori Lewis has made our team better than any of us thought was possible,” Wilson said. “We have come a long way in the past three years that I have been here.”

Like Wilson, freshman Missy Mooty says the team works really well together and is really focused on doing well.

“I went to nationals with my dance studio, and it was a competitive but fun experience. We have been working hard and I think we really have a good chance of doing well there,” Mooty said.

Although both teams are emotionally, mentally and physicially prepared for the championship, both teams face the responsibility of funding their trip to nationals.

During the summer, SMU held the National Cheerleading Association’s cheer camp with over 6,000 high school participants. At camp, the SMU cheerleading team sold t-shirts for $18 in effort to raise money for this year’s competition.

The cheer team and pom squad recently released their Spirit Calendar, which has professional and candid pictures of both teams. The calendars are selling at $12 and can be purchased at the Spirit office.

The pom squad has also just finished taping a dance routine choreographed by all 15 of its members and has sent the tape to qualify for free hotel rooms at nationals. It will be waiting to hear back from the National Dance Association over the next few weeks.

The cheer team is also trying to come up with alternative funds. It is currently planning to attend promotional events for local companies hoping to come up with $4,000.

“Local companies are looking for energetic people to kick off events. Our job is to perform a routine wearing the company’s shirts and logos and come up with cheers for that specific company,” Whisnant said.