Bob Jones’s Super varsity cheer team recently competed for nationals in Orlando, Florida. Most school cheer teams get seven months to work on their routine, but our Bob Jones cheer only had three months. All the hard work over these three months were finally going to be put on the mat for the last and most important competition of the season. It was a business trip for the 23 girls competing.

On the way to Orlando, the girls’ bus broke down 45 minutes into the trip and the nearest bus was an hour away. The latch on the luggage compartment of the bus would not open up because the bus power was out. After an hour went by, another bus came for the girls, but their luggage could not follow because the compartment would not open. Two hours after the first bus broke down the journey to Orlando continued. At 2 pm the next day the girls arrived, the luggage was on another bus with another team three hours away. Three hours later the luggage arrived and all was well.

On the day of competition, the girls entered the stadium with thousands of people in it. Finally, the moment had come and all of the girls were behind the curtain waiting for their name to be called out over the loudspeaker in the huge room filled with cheer fans. Finally, they heard, “In the Super Varsity division Bob Jones High School.”

The girls took the mat waiting for their music to start. One of the girls broke her finger in the middle of tumbling but still continued to do her whole routine. One girl’s shoulder popped out of place, but she still kept screaming the cheer for all the crowd to hear. With two seconds left in the routine, they had hit everything they needed to hit, but right at the end the pyramid on the right side crumbled, sealing the girl’s fate.

Tryouts are March 21-23.