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WA Ghostwriter

The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

The student news site of Westford Academy

WA Ghostwriter

WA cheerleaders cheer to the state title

By Lexie Brearley
Staff Writer

Courtesy Photo
Courtesy Photo

Sunday, November 22 was a day that some cheerleading teams in Massachusetts will remember as an okay day or maybe a bad day or maybe even an embarrassing day. A lot of girls fell, a lot were dropped, and one even was dropped then knocked down her supporting teammate on her way down.

For the Westford Academy Varsity Cheerleading team it was an excellent day. They won the Division One state championship,for the first time, with a score of 185.0 points. In 2007, when the current seniors were freshman, WA won the division two state title.

The competition was held at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury. Westford Academy went on during the morning session, along with Division Four teams and the Co-Ed teams. Division two and three competed in the afternoon session.

The girls performed second to last. Although coach Josh Vadala said he doesn’t mind going on at the end.

“I really like going on at the end because you’re really fresh in the judges’ minds and typically, if you go on early, they hold back some of the scores and might not score you as high because they want to know what else is out there.”

During the day he would go back and check who the competition was, although he didn’t see all the division one teams because they were warming up for part of the competition.

Valada and Jaime Holmes have been coaching together for five years now. Although, Holmes has been coaching here for six years total. Together they have won six consecutive DCL titles and the division two state title in 2006 and 2007.

Going into the competition Vadala had a good idea that they were going to win. Their biggest competition was Whitman-Hanson Regional High School. Whitman-Hanson beat them by half a point last year.

The move into division one from division two was also a factor. Vadala said they didn’t know what to expect.

“In the beginning of the season we moved to division one, so we didn’t really know what to expect and it’s a much more competitive division than division two. We had the talent but the question was would we be able to come together as a team and perform at the level they needed too.”

But after winning the DCLs and the regional competition, Vadala and Holmes knew they could win the division one championship.

“The first two competitions were pretty tough and after that the team really buckled down. The week before the regional competition, they had the highest score in the state and we knew we had a chance and it was just a matter of putting it all together,” Vadala said.

The routine starts out with a tumbling section. Vadala describes this as the strongest part, where the girls worked on a lot individually over the summer. The next section is cheering, where Vadala always becomes a little nervous.

“When they get to the part with the cheer, that’s always a little nervous because that’s the part where they could make mistakes. So once they get to the cheer and they’re doing pyramid, that’s always my one nervous part,” Vadala said.

WA uses seven flyers instead of the usual five which is a risk but pays off. But once they get through the cheer, they perform the dance, where Vadala says they always do a good job and is the exciting and enjoyable part of the routine.

To create the song for the routine, they first must come up with a theme. This year WA’s theme was “I want you back/I miss you.” The joke among the team was “we miss being state champions and we want it back.” The songs used were songs that are popular or a little older that were about that theme.

He takes the girls’ input, and they help choose the songs. After the songs are chosen, he takes it to his friend who puts it all together. He is told the music, the theme, and what is in the routine.

There are eight judges and four categories that need to be judged, two per category. The judges need to obtain a judges certificate every year by attending a class in the specific category that they are assigned. The judges are usually ex-coaches or coaches that don’t have a team competing.

Vadala says the season had its struggles, “we definitely had some bumps in the road and some struggles and in the middle of the season. It’s always hard to get people motivated and with a group of twenty three girls its always a struggle, it’s like a family.”

But the girls kicked it up and worked hard and did “an exception job of bring it all together and it was so great because it was unexpected and at the beginning of the season no one was talking about us and it was great,” according to Vadala.

Junior Elissa Chao agrees, “this win was great and I hope we do the same next year!”

For next year, Vadala says that it is possible to win again if they stay focused and be the good leaders he knows they can be. They are losing eight seniors, some of whom are strong bases. They provided a strong leadership and helped the team come together. But returning are an extremely talented freshmen class, all four flyers, and strong tumblers.

For Vadala, “it was my most satisfying win as a coach and was really an enjoyable way to end to the season.”

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