B-A cheer teams end season on a high note

Courtesy photo

The Bellwood-Antis varsity cheerleading team made huge strides this season as a competitive squad and is looking to level up next year.

Olivia Hess, Staff Writer
March 16, 2023

The varsity cheerleaders recently ended their competition season on a high, with claiming third place at the Millionaire Magic Cheer Festival in Williamsport. Throughout the year, the team overcame obstacles and persevered through any challenges that arose.

At the same time, B-A’s junior high squad kept expectations for the future high, winning first place at the festival in its division.

The junior high cheerleading squad won three events this year, including its last one in Williamsport. (Courtesy photo)

Mrs. Chrissy Shura, the head varsity cheer coach, was happy to end on a high note.

“Varsity had a lot of obstacles to overcome this season, but overall I’m happy with the way it went,” she commented.

Every season, the team’s goal is to compete, and they were able to do that this year. Striving to make states is also an objective, but they haven’t been able to get there yet. However, Coach Shura is optimistic that the squad will make it to states within the next two years.

After competing in Districts, the team wanted to improve their difficulty score. They put in the hours, pulled together, and made it happen.

“(We improved our difficulty score) by more than doubling it at the remaining competitions! Every competition they competed in, they improved each time,” said Coach Shura, “…them pulling together and working as a team is what we as coaches are proud of the most!”

Along with drastically improving their routine’s difficulty score late in the season, their stunts also been revamped. Coach Shura thinks that some of their stunts were “the hardest a Bellwood Varsity team has done.”

Aside from the varsity team, the junior high girls had an abundance of success as well, taking first place at three competitions and claiming second place at another.

“They are a very driven group of girls who are always trying to improve their stunts and tumbling skills,” Coach Shura said. “We are excited to see what the future holds for them as all but one girl moves up to varsity next season.”

Looking ahead, next year there will be a bigger squad, since ten girls will likely be moving up from junior high. The coaches are looking forward to giving the option of cheering sideline and not competing, or doing both. They know that “competing is a big time commitment and takes a lot of dedication and hard work,” so they’ll be glad to offer that choice.

There will be big goals and expectations in the future, as the girls will seek to make it to states, and even qualify for Nationals in Florida. To get there, they are looking to take their stunts and competition routine “to the next level” and improve their scores.

The coaches and girls are already excited for next season, as Coach Shura says: “I think next year could be our year to accomplish those goals, so the girls are already excited and ready to get to work.”

B-A’s coaching staff includes: