The Kekaha Panthers took second in the Junior Pee Wee Advanced Division bracket at the Pop Warner National Championships in Orlando, Fla., yesterday. The 14-girl cheer team, all between the ages of 7 and 11 years old, completed its two-minute
The Kekaha Panthers took second in the Junior Pee Wee Advanced Division bracket at the Pop Warner National Championships in Orlando, Fla., yesterday.
The 14-girl cheer team, all between the ages of 7 and 11 years old, completed its two-minute cheer and dance routine to finish with a score of 87.58. Top finishers, Burlington Patriots from New England narrowly beat the Panthers with a score of 89.1.
“This was a special year for these girls,” said head coach Cecilie Pablo. “We did our own hair this year and the cheer moms spent all the night before the competition doing the bows. I told them to go out there and have fun and that there were 1,000 girls who couldn’t make it because they didn’t win their region. They should be honored to represent Kaua‘i.”
Last year, the cheer team competed in the intermediate division. This year, the coaches debated the decision to move the girls up to the advanced division.
“We weren’t sure we wanted to move them up,” Pablo said. “But we didn’t want to hold them back as far as their skills go. We didn’t want to restrict their abilities and what they could do.”
The move proved to be a good one.
“The routine was so high energy,” Pablo said. “There were a variety of skills in their routine. There were so many basket tosses and so much tumbling. The basket tosses were the roar of the crowd. The crowd just went wild because they were tossing the girls so high in the air.”
For their second-place finish, the girls received a large trophy.
“It almost looks like the first-place trophy,” Pablo said. “It’s bigger than one of the girls on the team.”
The Pop Warner National Football and Cheer Championships started Sunday.
The Koloa Packers football team lost yesterday to the Capital City Steelers of North Carolina, 20-6. They play in a consolation game later this week.
The other cheerleading teams from Kaua‘i, the Lihue Patriots and the Hanapepe Colts Midget, Novice teams compete today. The Koloa Raiders and the Hanapepe Colts, Small, Intermediate teams compete Friday.
The Kekaha Panthers were the only team in the western conference — which includes all of Hawai‘i — to compete on the advanced level.
Assistant coaches Michelle Chiba, Iris Hesapene, Lianne Manuel, Kiinani Mata and Troy Lazaro worked with Pablo to coordinate the team.
In 1999, the Kekaha Pop Warner organization took first place in the national championships in the Midget division. The organization took first place again in 2004 in the Junior Pee Wee, Novice, Small division. Then last year, the Junior Pee Wee, Intermediate, Large team took second at the same competition.
Because this year’s cheerleaders are finished with their part of the competition, they will spend the rest of the week on vacation.
“We’re done,” Pablo said. “Now we can enjoy Disney World.”
