Kapa‘a finds strength in teamwork

Quite often teams rely on their captains. They depend on their leadership to guide the team to a successful season and to be representative of the squad.

Quite often they’re the older members of the team. More often that not, the seniors.

But this is not the case for the Kapa‘a High School cheerleading squad. They rely on each other and find strength in teamwork.

“This year, we don’t have any seniors,” said head coach Kanana Kuhaulua. “A lot of times team usually look up to the older ones, but this year we don’t have that. Someone different always leads. We have team leadership where one day, someone will step up and be the leader and someone else will step another day. There no captains on this squad.”

This helps them work together as not too many of the cheerleaders come with major cheering experience.

The squad has been practicing their routine for today’s Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation championship for the last month and Kuhaulua said they’ve tried beefing it up to get the maximum points.

“We’ve tried to focus on our stunting and being together,” she said. “It’s looking good.”

She is hoping that they will not be intimidated by the other two squads.

“I think I’m worried about them because we only have one competition. It’s not like we can compete in one and then bounce back and be able to overcome the performance. There’s just the one,” she said. “I told them their routine is a self-portrait of themselves. They’re as good as what they put out there and when they’re on it, there’s nothing that can stop them.”

Kapa‘a is competing in its second competition in the past three years.

“They’re strongest at having fun. That’s their expertise,” she said.

Today’s KIF championship starts at noon at Kaua‘i High School. The winner will advance to next month’s Zippy’s Cheerleading State Championships in Honolulu.