The National High School Cheerleading Championship (NHSCC) is the most prestigious cheerleading competition the country. The NHSCC is held at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, and is nationally televised on ESPN and ESPN2, to over 100 million homes and 32 countries nationwide.

Last year Liberty was the only team from Missouri to advance to the finals. They competed in the Large Varsity Division 1 category. This is the fourth year in a row Liberty has been invited to compete at the national level after qualifying at the regional level in Missouri. Over 550 teams from across the country travel to Disney World for this prestigious event. The competition will air on ESPN in March.

Last year, our Liberty Blue Jay Cheer team placed 12 in the nation, an all time best for our high school.

“Last year we reached 12^th place at the National level which is a huge deal considering we compete against the nation’s best teams,” senior Hayley Odom said. “This year our team is working towards much higher skills than we even dreamed of attempting last year and we’re actually quite successful with what we’re trying. There is so much talent from all 31 of us that we are reaching for at least top 10. Unlike most teams, we do not compete for the title, we compete for our own improvement and progression. As a team we have a saying: “Be better than you were yesterday.” This means that we don’t play to win, we play to improve ourselves.”

To get to the NHSCC it takes hard work, teamwork and a lot of sprit and literally, some blood, sweat, and tears considering Anderson had recently broken her hand practicing some of her stunts.

“In order to get to nationals, we had to qualify at our regional competition this past December,” Odom said. “As a competitive team, we have four competitions: summer regionals, which qualify us for State, then obviously we compete at State and after State we work towards Nationals. We practice 24/7 and must first qualify at the regional level. Once we qualify, we practice even more for Nationals in February.”

When it comes down to getting ready for The NHSCC all you can do is practice, practice and then practice some more.

“Preparing for Nationals is the hard part,” Junior Annabelle Anderson said. “From making our routine 10x more difficult, to cramming 9 mats into a truck so they can be driven down to Florida. Everyday after school, sometimes weekends, we practice for 2, 3 or even 4 hours. Once we get there, we start setting up mats in the parking lot of our resort and practice. You can never practice too much when it comes to Nationals.”

Head Cheer Coach Brenda Moats talked to us about their hard work.

“We started practices in April of 2014 in hopes of qualifying by working to advance their skills to a high enough level to compete with other high achieving teams in the country summer practices helped with this as well as our 2-3 hours of practice daily since August.”

Having very talented athletes who are capable of doing a stunt like a triple full step out back or a spring double tuck back and spring triple full is valuable to the team, but something even more valuable to the team is having a great bond.

“The chemistry on our team is absolutely phenomenal. I know it may be hard to believe, considering we’re a group of 31 teenage girls and cheerleaders, and have a false reputation for being ditzy, mean girls. But the girls on my team are all amazing women and we are family,” Odom said. “We have to rely on each other and trust one another constantly. This team is what made my high school experience memorable and I know that they would all tell you the same.“

Teamwork is something the Blue Jays definitely don’t lack in, and a reason for that is because of the seniors. Unfortunately this is can also be a very difficult thing for this future season.

“12 seniors are a lot of people, it’s crazy but were hoping that our junior, sophomore and up coming freshmen will step up.” Sophomore Madison Kudran said.

Odom left the underclassmen with some encouraging words.

“Girls on the team are a leader in their own way and I have full faith that that leadership will continue next year the skill levels will continue to increase and I can’t wait to see how next year’s team will take our legacy farther!”