Earlier this month, the Pampa High School Cheerleaders showed off their Harvester spirit at the Universal Cheerleaders Association Cheer Camp.
From June 4th through the 8th, a total of 17 schools attended the UCA Cheer Camp hosted at the University of Oklahoma. The purpose of the cheer camp is to develop proper cheerleading skills such as stunt technique, dance routines, and cheer routines, through a series of team-building activities.
Regina Anderson and Autumn Hunt, the Cheerleader Coaches for PHS, took 19 students to the four-day camp event.
With around a decade of experience in coaching cheerleading, the 2023-2024 school year will be Anderson’s first year teaching and coaching at PHS.
Anderson explained what activities the students experienced each day at the camp.
“On the first day, the students started learning new cheer material,” Anderson said. “They had a stunt class where they learned different stunts of varying difficulty. They had motion technique classes where they focused on their motions. They learned new material like sideline chants, dances, and cheers.”
Throughout the day, each school team was evaluated on how well they learned the new material and what areas they could focus on improving.
During evaluations, the team PHS Cheerleading team received a gold superior ribbon and a blue superior ribbon.
On the very first night of the camp, the cheerleaders earned UCA’s most prestigious spirit award: the inflatable banana. The banana is only awarded four times throughout the camp. Receiving the banana means that the team displayed the most spirit throughout the day, heavily engaged with the other schools, and set a positive example for everyone.
“That was the highlight of the camp. To earn the inflatable banana on the first night, that was a pretty big deal for the girls,” Anderson said.
In addition to team awards, individual awards were also given out. Yahaira Zamudio, Hallie Reynolds, and Alyssa Rios advanced to the final round of the annual camp jump off where campers compete to have the best jumps, and each received gold superior ribbons.
Gracelin Stevens, Abbey Snapp, and mascot Mia McClendon received the Pin-It Forward award, which is given to campers that show leadership, positive attitudes, and kindness throughout the camp.
The ultimate esteemed award given at the cheer camp is the All-American Cheerleader/Mascot award. Every student participating in the camp performs a tryout routine in front of the whole camp.
Zamudio and Saylor Stribling were named All-American Cheerleader while McClendon was named All-American Mascot, and earned the Leadership Award, and the Spirit Award among the mascots at the end of the camp.
On the final day of camp, the Harvester cheerleaders participated in the final camp evaluations and competition. The team earned the third-place trophy in the Camp Routine division, which consisted of a dance and pyramid. The team won the first-place trophy in the Cheer division for their Game Day Cheer.
Anderson expressed the team’s eagerness for the 2023-2024 school year.
“The Pampa High School cheerleaders and mascot are excited to lead the spirit this year for the Harvesters,” Anderson said.
For more information about the Pampa High School Cheerleaders, visit their Facebook: www.facebook.com/pampacheer or call Harvester Pride Athletics at (806) 669-4830.
