To All of our Followers, we bring you exclusive coverage of the historic and inaugural CIF/L.A. City Section’s “Competitive Cheer”–Eastern/Southern League Championship” that recently took place at Torres HS on Friday, 3/16/18. Our Photo Gallery is below right after the story. We ask everyone to like and share this with your social media networks.
Before we start our write-up, we’d like to take a moment and abundantly Thank Commissioner John Aguirre for his commitment and his vision to make this sport, not only a highly welcomed success to the CIF’s L.A. City Section, but to also soundly congratulate him on making Competitive Cheer a reality as one of his “Top 10” goals for the 2017-2018 school year.
ADVERTISEMENT
Entered into the first-ever competition were the following schools. Representing the Eastern League—Roosevelt, Garfield, South East, South Gate, Huntington Park, and Bell. And from the Southern League—Legacy, Marquez, Mendez, Maywood Center For Enriched Studies (MA.C.E.S.) and Torres.
To give you some basic details on the L.A. City Section’s Cheer Competition, we begin by introducing you to the designated Sports Coordinator for Cheer, Michelle Galarza, who organizes and oversees all competitions by their appropriate regions. She began her coaching career at South Gate but has spent the last 13 years as a teacher and coach at South East HS.
Cheer Background Info: All competition is governed by the American Association Of Cheerleading Coaches & Advisors. It is judged by three designated and accredited professional officials with years of experience to their credit. Teams/Schools compete in “Head-to-Head” competition and their routines are mandatorily pre-set for a 2.5 minute duration. They are also ranked in competition by their League scores. Each team may include anywhere from 5-36 athletes. Per Sport Coordinator Galarza, League competition is not actually a CIF sponsored event, but when required, she facilitates activities between the L.A. City Section’s Competitive Cheer Coaches, the Athletic Directors’ Offices, and Sponsor/Partner Organizations.
Scoring: Team performances are judged in the following categories: 1) Cheer: Ability to involve and excite the crowd; 2) Standing & Building: Based on intricate schemes and partner stunt skills; and 3) Tumbling, Jumping, & Dancing. The three categories have a grand total of 100 points on each of the judges’ scorecards
Final Order of Finish: 1st-Torres, 2nd-Roosevelt, 3rd-Bell & Garfield tied. All three teams received trophies for their skills and efforts. Their finishes will count towards the Division seedings for the upcoming Regionals, scheduled for next month. Total attendance was estimated at 500. Because this is now a regular L.A. City Section sponsored sports contest, there was an admission charge of $5.00 for Adults and $3.00 for Students. The host school keeps the proceeds from the event’s ticket sales and its concession stands sales. The money is then split 50/50 between the Student Body and the Cheer Team.
In describing the Section’s first-ever Eastern/Southern League Championship, Cheer Sport Coordinator Galarza stated that “it was really successful. Each team had lots of fun. All were well-behaved and during their waiting times to perform, many of the teams cheered and supported their competitors. Teams were also observed doing ‘1-on-1’ dance battling. Our Regional Championship can only be better. We encourage our communities to come out and support these outstanding student-athletes who perform at the equal level of their football, basketball, and baseball counter-parts.”
Next Competitions: CIF/LACS Regionals on Saturday, 4/14 at Torres HS. The City Championship is scheduled to take place on Saturday, 5/12 at Birmingham Charter, located in the San Fernando Valley. For more info on the L.A. City Section’s Competitive Cheer Results & Program, click here.
Photo Gallery Credits: Ana Rosas/South Gate HS; Claudia Navarro/Bell HS; and Larraine LaVoie/Roosevelt HS. Cheer League Championship Graphic: Roosevelt HS