Cheerleading – Kekaha brings home more trophies

The Kekaha Pop Warner Association’s cheerleaders brought home two more national championship trophies this week when they finished first and second at the JAMZ National Youth Championships in Las Vegas.

“We just worked so hard these past couple of months in preparation for Vegas,” said first-year Panthers cheer coach Stephanie Poteete.

The Panthers, which consists of 8- to 11-year-old cheerleaders, took top honors in the Youth 1A Small Level 1 — the competition equivalent to the Junior Pee Wee division of Pop Warner.

Because the Panthers’ division was the younger group it was also the most basic. There were basic cheerleading moves but no major tumbling or lifting stunts.

Poteete said the girls were responsible for the whole routine.

“Our routine was made up by the girls themselves,” said Poteete, a former Kekaha cheerleader. “They did some dancing and basically, we took what we thought looked best and put it to music.”

Kekaha Chargers coach Cecilie Pablo said the Panthers executed their routine to perfection.

“It was unbelievably perfect. We are very proud of them,” Pablo said. “They were so calm (backstage). The children are so young they don’t realize it’s a competition and there’s a lot of people out there. They just went out and did it.”

Pablo’s team, the Chargers took home the second-place finish in the Youth 4 Small Squad Level 4 division — the equivalent to the Midget division for Pop Warner.

The girls range in age from 11 to 15 years old.

“This was a little more challenging than the Pop Warner national competition because the scoring was different. We had to figure out where we fit in.”

Their routine consisted of numerous tumbling stunts and a few basket tosses.

“We did a stunting sequence that was very hard and a tumbling sequence that was very hard for our tumblers,” Pablo said. “As always, tumbling is an issue on Kaua‘i.”

The Chargers had fewer girls than some of their competition, in particular the winning Temecula Bears, which made it so that they were scrutinized more.

“(The Bears) had the maximum amount of girls which was 19 and, with that amount, they could do a variety of stunts. If they make a mistake, it’s easier for them to cover it up because they have lots of people. But, surprisingly, our routine went on despite the fact that they were sick.”

Several of the Chargers’ cheerleaders fell ill on the trip and Pablo was uncertain for a while whether or not they would be able to compete.

“We were totally worried (about the girls) because we didn’t know their status until the day of competition,” Pablo said.

The coaches sat with every girl that day to ask how they were doing and, because they had time to rest during the five-day trip, they were able to recover.

“If anything, we might’ve had to pull out or the routine would’ve had to change,” she said.

This particular competition differs from the Pop Warner competition in that there are different rules regarding the routine. Because the Panthers and the Chargers are Pop Warner teams, they have to abide by the Pop Warner rules above the JAMZ rules.

That means they’re slightly more restricted to certain acts.

Poteete said that JAMZ hosts two kinds of squads: cheer and competition. The cheer teams are the Pop Warner teams who actually cheer at games and the competition squads are those who strictly practice and prepare for competitions.

Either way, the Panthers and Chargers pulled it off, bringing more trophies for the Kekaha organization.

“Trophy-wise, it’s too hard to count,” said Pablo of the number of trophies the organ-ization has accumulated over the years. “We’re trying to find a place to put them so we can share them with the community. I’m still trying to process what happened. We are so proud of these girls.”

• Lanaly Cabalo, sports editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or lcabalo@kauaipubco.com.