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First for one last time

The last competition wasn't routine. In their last time together, they wanted a perfect routine.

By BRYAN BURNS
Published April 28, 2006

BRANDON

It's an hour before they're scheduled to compete, and the cheerleaders from the Brandon All-Stars Senior Black team are posing around a golf cart outside the USF Sun Dome.

A television crew is filming them. They want to use the footage for their broadcast of Saturday's competition, the CheerPower Tournament of Champions.

The team takes turns standing on the golf cart and cheering for the camera. It's hardly the look of a team that is nervous.

"We are nervous," says Sarah Huard, an 11th-grader on the club sport squad. "We just don't start showing it until we're backstage about to go on."

The camera time is a reward for taking first place at Cheer Sport Nationals in Atlanta a couple of months ago, one of the two most prestigious cheerleading tournaments in the nation. Think of the Masters in golf. There are a number of competitions throughout the year with some prestige, but Cheer Sport is the one people remember.

That win solidified the team's status as the best in the country. It was also their sixth victory in six tries. The pressure to finish undefeated since then had been considerable, but three competitions later, their record remains unblemished.

"You get to a point where you're just trying not to lose," says coach Joslynne Harrod, who is in her fourth year coaching and first with Brandon. "As a team, you haven't felt what it's like to lose, and you don't want to start."

The goofiness on display for the TV cameras isn't normal behavior for this club, especially before a competition. They're a superstitious group; since they've been winning, their entire preperformance ritual remains the same.

"If they go to the bathroom five times before a meet and win, then they have to do it again for every other meet," says Harrod, the coach. "When they stand next to each other, they have to do it in a particular way. They line up next to each other the same way each time. It's almost obsessive-compulsive."

Waiting in the concourse inside the USF Sun Dome, the team, which is made up of 19 teenage girls and one guy, has devised its own way to pass the time before it enters the side gym to begin warmup sessions. They form a circle and clap rhythmically. Then, someone gets in the middle.

The circle chants in unison as the person in the middle dances for the others.

"What's up, Sarah, what's up? What's up, Sarah, what's up? Jump on it, jump on it, jump on it."

It's repeated over and over again until everybody has been in the middle.

The team looks relaxed for one that's a half-hour away from their final competition together. But the dancing is all part of the ritual.

"After the second and third meet, we saw we were doing the same things before the meet and winning," said 17-year-old Kirsey Hughes, who is in her first and only season with the team. "We couldn't stop after that."

"We laugh at them, but they keep winning," said Harrod, the coach. "So what can I say."

The team gathers one last time before taking their place under the bright lights of the competition area.

"This is it," Harrod tells those gathered around her. "This is the last time you will do this as a team. Enjoy every second that you're standing out there. Have fun ... and be confident. You've been there many times before."

The squad again gathers in a circle, this time reciting the Lord's Prayer. They give each other hugs. Some are giggling; others want to make sure they look perfect.

"Nobody told me my hair looked like this," one of the girls says to Jennifer Cummings, who shares coaching duties with Harrod.

Cummings takes out a bottle of hair spray and puts the wayward strands of hair back in place.

This is an emotional time for the Senior Black team. It's their last competitive performance of the season. In just a couple of minutes, their season will be over, and the eight seniors on the club squad will go their separate ways. A few choke back tears.

"Guys, don't cry," Harrod teases. "There's no crying in cheerleading."

"We're all so close to each other, so it's sad to know that it's over," 15-year-old Caitlin Thomas says.

As they have been in their nine previous performances, the Senior Black team is nearly flawless when they hit the Sun Dome floor. The team is in top form and they know it, growing more confident with each move.

The coaches, positioned in a designated box in front of the performance area, are having a hard time containing their enthusiasm. They jump in the air, pumping their fists with each completed move.

"We do the same routine all year, so we know what we struggle with," Harrod explains. "As they were completing the tough elements in the routine, it was exciting to watch them nail it."

Harrod says the goal of this competition is to get the highest overall score. There are only two teams in their division, so winning it likely won't be a problem. The team has gotten the highest score twice this year. If they do it today, they'll each get a ring commemorating the achievement. By the time the performance is over, the team might as well line up to give the tournament organizers their ring sizes.

"That was the best routine they've put together this year," Harrod says afterward. "I wanted their last competition to be their best because of the number of seniors that will depart. Luckily, it was."

Harrod brings the team together one last time to run down the rest of the evening's events. It's 3 p.m. now; the winners won't be announced until 9 p.m. The team must sit around and wait for the result they already know is coming. They'll watch the other teams compete and show support for the other Brandon squads - there are seven Brandon All-Star teams, separated by age and skill level - before receiving their first-place trophy for the last time.

[Last modified April 27, 2006, 13:57:00]