The Estevan Comprehensive School’s (ECS) Elecs cheerleading team took top spot in the senior school level 2 at the 11th annual provincial cheerleading competition in Weyburn on March 25.
ECS finished with a score of 93.05 per cent to win gold in a division that also included Warman High School, Marion M. Graham Collegiate in Saskatoon and Winston Knoll Collegiate in Regina.
Coach Bonnie Chepil-Kvamme, who has been guiding the team for nearly 25 years, said the judges were impressed with the ECS cheerleaders’ jumps, their height for their basket tosses, their clean and precise dance routine and their energy throughout the performance.
“The judges take a look at things like choreography, the difficulty of the stunts, the execution of stunts, enthusiasm and the overall performance quality,” said Chepil-Kvamme.
“We have to do some required elements. We have to do some stunts that just involve one leg, we have to have a pyramid in there, and we need to have a clean routine.”
The students executed the choreography extremely well, and the stunts were solid.
“We didn’t have one bobble,” said Chepil-Kvamme.
The competition was very tight, she said. At the Best of the West meet at the University of Regina the weekend before, the competition was decided by two-tenths of a point.
The Elecs have won provincials several times over the years, and Chepil-Kvamme says there have been many changes, for both the athletes and coaches, that have made provincial competitions more difficult.
The cheerleading team had just 12 members for provincials, so they are a relatively small squad. Cheerleading is physically demanding, she said, and the team members dedicate a lot of time throughout the year.
“We put in two hours (of practice) every Sunday, but also, before any competition, we have at least an hour every morning, up to an hour-and-a-half every morning (for a week) for practice, so we’re definitely looking at over 100 hours of work,” said Chepil-Kvamme.
They also participate in cheer clinics with an expert instructor to work on their stunting techniques.
“They put time in at home where they’re practicing their routine,” said Chepil-Kvamme. “It’s not just something they do in the gym. They have to do a lot of extra work at home.”
Chepil-Kvamme said she had the assistance of two former cheerleaders from the community, Danica Friess and Taylor Kuntz, who helped out throughout the season. She added the team wouldn’t have enjoyed this level of success without them.
