HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For the first time ever, Hendersonville High School gets to call themselves National cheerleading champions!
The Hendersonville High School Cheerleading team came in 1st place for the Universal Cheerleaders Association National Championships.
"This year definitely taught you not to take anything for granted because most weeks we didn’t have everyone there we would have like 2 to 3 people missing," said senior Emma Kimbrough.
The process started on April 7th with the first round video being due.
The team then advanced to finals on April 12th. After submitting the final video on April 15th, the competition aired on Varsity TV April 23rd.
The team competed in the Small Varsity Non-tumble Game Day Division and Small Varsity Traditional Division.
The game day division is the largest division, for both virtual and in-person, out of the entire national competition.
The championship is typically held in Orlando, Florida but because of the coronavirus pandemic, the team decided to join the virtual competition.
However, that wasn't the only big changes they had to deal with.
"Thinking back, I think we had to change the national championship winning routine four times from December to when we could record for nationals," said coach Brittany Watson.
The pandemic made practices and coordinating the routines more of a challenge, especially having to do it mostly virtually instead of in person.
"In a normal year we practice every single day," said senior Lily Howard, "we're always in gym and going nonstop working on the two routines but this year was really different."
If the last year has taught this team anything, they say it's that they can handle anything that is thrown at them!
"There were times where we were like do we even compete?" said coach Harlie Fuqua, "but if we didn't send in videos for nationals we never would’ve accomplished this and walked away winning a national championship."
Earlier this season the team was also named TSSAA State Champions and TN Regional Champions, making it an undefeated season for our Game Day routine.
Hendersonville High School Cheerleading Team:
Seniors: Lily Howard, Emma Kimbrough, Jayden Watts
Juniors: Christelly Kabasu, Sydney McDaniel, Ashley Phillips
Sophomores: Brooke Haley, Olivia Kimbrough, Katelyn Ramsey, Mary Grace Rodden, Aiden Roney
Freshmen: Breana Earls, Kinslie Lowery, Endya Rice
Coaches: Harlie Fuqua, Brittany Watson, Malik Briggs, Mike Lovin
