By: Marley Crisp
On January 20th, El Diamante High School cheer team went to compete in CIF’s third division and won first place in this competitive, head-to-head cheer team.
El Diamante High School has had some championships throughout the years for cheer. Specifically in 2021, when our varsity cheer team won second place in the All Girls Diction 3 Novice. They also won fourth place in the All Girls Varsity Small championships. Between 2022-2023 the All Girls Small Division won fourth, and recently in 2023-2024 this would be the first year where our El Diamante cheer team has accomplished such a new and astonishing achievement. Not only did they place but they placed first in the third division against many competitive teams. CIF is California Interscholastic Federation which is when competitive cheer teams go head to head to win. To qualify for CIF, you need to enter an entry form and then they have to approve you. There is also a lot of preparation that goes into competing.
Before the championship Cheer had to prepare and put in almost all of their time to get their routine down and find one that works for them. To do this they would have to come to El D every morning at 6:30 am and practice until school starts and after school to practice, sacrificing their after-school life for weeks. They have been practicing since November and they have put in much effort and work together to perform, one of the girls had to learn the performance in 12 hours. This just shows the commitment and dedication that these athletes had to put into it.
Tracy Beans, El D’s cheer coach, wise words states “three of the girls have been on this mat last year but 10 of them went on this mat for the very first time ever today! They have been practicing and working really hard early morning at 6:30 and after school since November!” Beans continued to explain all of the dedication every team member has put in, “this past week had been a challenge from one girl learning this routine in less than 12 hours with the help from her teammates. They showed dedication, confidence, teamwork, resilience, and perseverance! Thank you for believing in yourselves and each other ladies! We are so proud of you!!”
I know firsthand that their cheer routine was one of the best. They performed it at our El Diamante Barbie rally and many had excellent things to say about it. The level of difficulty is very impressive because they are doing many challenging moves and stunts and it is very risky but they pulled through, finished, and performed it in front of a crowd not just once but many times.
Many of the girls on the team have stated that it is very nerve-racking before going on stage and that they would have to mentally prepare and focus on their performance and completing but also to have fun. After performing it was even more tense because they had to wait for their ranking. But overall at the end when they called out their name, they felt relief and were ecstatic and happy about their performance and place.