The Cypress High School cheerleading program is hoping to have another successful season, and they seem to be on track.
“We are even stronger this year. We have more tumbling, and that’s going to help us in competition,” said Courtney Harper, senior cheerleader, and this year’s varsity captain.
Winning paid bids to a regional and national competition based on their superior performance at United Spirit Association’s (USA) summer cheer camp, the team looks forward to continuing that excellence during their 2015 competition season.
Coach Leslie Allen, or Coach “A”, as the cheerleaders call her, confirms that the team is stronger than before with tumbling.
“We have full-squad standing back handsprings this year, and we are trying to do harder stunting and more advanced tumbling this year…we want to set the bar a little higher,” she said.
Last year, the team won first place at their first regional competition and a Cheer Pros competition. Taking second and third place at two other competitions, the team held one of Cypress High School’s best competition records in the program’s history.
Part of the team’s attribution to advanced tumbling, is credited to members like Ashley Kim, who did gymnastics since she was in third grade, but didn’t decide to put her tumbling to use with cheerleading until high school. Kim ended up enjoying cheerleading, and even encouraged her younger sister, Julia, to join the team, despite also having no previous cheer experience.
Julia Kim made the varsity team as a freshman. She says joining the cheer team was initiated by her sister, but has helped give her some confidence on her own:
“I look forward to this season, to help me get out of my comfort zone and be more loud,” she said.
Her sister says having a member of the family on the team has allowed them to see each other more often, and also help their family gain insight on how difficult cheerleading is as a sport. She commented on their relationship:
“As sisters, we now have more things to talk to each other about, and more things to argue with each other about,” said Ashley Kim, laughing.
Coach Allen has been instructing the team for the past two years, in which the team made it to the final day of USA Nationals both years. The team says that making it to finals at the national competition is always the goal. After achieving “day two” status last year, but earning sixth place for their final performance, the team seems hungrier than ever to win the title this season.
Prior to coming to Cypress, Allen coached for 12 years at Orange Lutheran High School. Allen grew up locally, starting her personal cheerleading career in junior high, and then attending Loara High School, participating there as a song leader.
Allen’s daughter, Lyndsie Olson, coached the junior varsity team at Cypress for one year alongside her mother, but now has been hired as the head coach at Esperanza High School in Anaheim, while former Cypress High School cheerleader, DJ Fleming, has been utilized for coaching the junior varsity team.
Four-year varsity cheerleader, and recently elected captain of the varsity team, Ashley Wells, says she doesn’t know where her life would be without cheer; she has been cheering for 12 years. She commends Allen for what her coaching has brought to the Cypress Spirit Squad program.
“Coach A is a really good coach. She has helped us by bringing in choreographers, and other coaches to help us learn more, along with improving our tumbling,” Wells said.
Samantha Hara, another freshman on the varsity team, gave up her involvement on a competitive cheer team to experience high school cheer. Her older sister was formerly the captain of the varsity cheer team in 2012.
Hara says she is looking forward to starting high school in the fall with her team performing at the football games, something she didn’t get to do with her competitive team.
With Cypress football kicking off shortly after school starts, Coach Allen says fans can expect to see fun basket tosses, routines learned at camp, and more of their strong stunting and school spirit, all in which serve as a forum for the team to practice their skills in preparation for competition season. The team will showcase their routine in November, and compete for the first time this season in December.