By Jacelyn Hamamoto

[email protected]

This year’s first Eastern Cheerleading Competition of the season was hosted at MHS on Oct. 25. Despite not competing, MHS cheerleaders escorted other cheer teams around the school and prepared themselves for upcoming competitions.

“When we’re not competing we’re more behind the scenes, helping other teams compete. To see them nervous, before going on, you feel for them,” said varsity cheerleader Senior Jalene Alviar.

Cheer teams host competitions once a year, yet this year’s was quite different as it was held for an entire day rather than three hours. “Teams (came) here to practice and there (are) judges of course, then they put on their makeup and put on their costumes here,” said Alviar. Due to misjudging and injuries in previous competitions, the cheer team wanted to make sure the athletes were warmed up appropriately. “We provided all the teams with adequate warm-up time and time to discuss routines with judges prior to competition,” said Head Coach Renesha Kierstedt.

Having hosted the first major competition of the season, the MHS cheer team is ready to tackle what is yet to come with help from their coach. “Cheerleading is all about providing a powerful show with the skills and techniques to win. Keep your heads high and never compete to win, compete and leave it all on the mat,” said Kierstedt.

With these words in mind, the cheer team attended various practices to clean up their technique. “Teams practice daily and continue to hit all their team and individual goals. Routine changes weekly because the teams want to ‘up the ante,’” said Kierstedt.

While stressing new routines as well as conditioning for the past seven months, varsity cheerleader Senior Kameron Acebo is excited to compete again and perform with her team. “Once you hit the mat, it’s just all adrenaline and you leave everything on the mat with no regrets. It’s because the mat is the only place you are able to fix the team,” said Acebo.

Even with the motivation to win, there are trials to overcome, especially injuries.“There’s always injuries, like a lot of our teammates are injured more than half the time and then we had to change the routine last minute due to injuries, which was a huge challenge,” said Alviar. However, this year’s cheerleaders have pushed through. “We just work together; considering our injuries we have alternates which we replace each other (with) so it helps a lot,” explained Alviar.

With their drive for success, the MHS cheer team is ready to take on the upcoming season. “We just care about doing what we do as a team, this is our goal to hit our routine. Focus on us, and not on others,” said Alviar. Kierstedt added, “Put on a show, you do you, and make them remember who you are and where you represent.”

The MHS cheerleaders have already won their first preseason competition at Kalaheo High School and hope to keep up their ethic, as well as their confidence, to place in the upcoming competition.