On Saturday, Jan. 9, the North Forsyth Competition Cheer team participated in the Dacula Cheer Classic. The competition was held at Dacula High School located in Gwinnett County. It was split into various sessions, and North Forsyth competed in the fifth session against other 7A schools at 1:45 p.m. 

North Forsyth placed second in the 7A competition, following closely behind West Forsyth. Meadow Creek High School also participated and placed third.

While the girls only have two minutes and thirty seconds to perform their routine for the judges, they fill up the short period of time with stunts. Throughout their routine, they had various elements to complete in order to score. There were various tumbling maneuvers, such as backflips, done in sync with the whole team, group and partner crossing double back handsprings, hurdler jumps, toe-touch jumps, and other tumbling maneuvers.  

As the routine progressed, North had many stunts they performed, which is where the base girls move the flyer into an extension. The flyer goes on to perform scales and bow-and-arrows. Flyers are tossed and turned in the air. At one point during their routine, North has five stunt groups which requires strength from every girl on the team. Towards the end of their routine, North moved into a pyramid stunt, which requires all four flyers to be touching. In order to score high in this category, the team needs the complexity of the stunt to be high. North successfully completed the pyramid stunt with four flyers touching and two being tossed in the air. 

It wouldn’t be competition cheer without the actual cheering and chanting. This is a category that is very important when the teams are being judged. The girls were judged on their sharpness, projection, volume, energy, synchronization and formations. 

Overall, the routine the girls  performed was put together with little mistakes. However, the girls are focusing on trying to improve the small mistakes they made, which causes point deductions.  Senior Averi Morrison is a backspot during stunts; however, her proudest skill is tumbling. “The competition at Dacula wasn’t our best. We definitely need improvement. I would say the best part of our routine at that competition would be our two-man. We definitely need to improve on landing our tumbling, being clean and performing. Cheerleading is different than any other sport because we have two and a half minutes to do around 13 skills perfectly. If everyone on the floor isn’t perfect at everything, then we will get points deducted,” said Morrison. 

The hard work these girls put into this routine was obvious to the audience. From an outsider’s perspective, the performance looked flawless. As the competition cheer season progresses, we hope to see our Raiders on the floor competing at state again!