Day 1 Recap:
The members got settled into their rooms, and at 1PM entered into the world of UCA Cheer Camp! On Day 1, the athletes learned LOTS of material. No evaluations took place on Day One, as the UCA Staff focused on teaching material and technique.
All six stunt groups made it into Elite Stunt Class on Day One!! That means that all six stunt groups hit extended liberties, with a pop cradle. AWESOME JOB LADIES! This set the tone for the rest of camp! By being placed in the Elite stunting class, all six groups are learning new skills never taught before and most groups will be coming home with something new and amazing to show.
The night ended a little disheartened with the team not receiving a Spirit stick. However, we do have a lot of new members new to the Cheer Camp Lifestyle, and the returners were sure to bring more enthusiasm to Day 2 for the new athletes to follow.
Day 2 Recap:
Cheer Evaluations: Blue Superior Ribbon!
Spirit Stick!
Varsity Jump Off Winner: Taylor Witana
Room Decos Winners: Lainey Fitch & Kate Merrick (Theme: Rock N Roll), Second Place: Nova Warnstrom & Zuzanna Smoszna (In ’N’ Out)
Day 2 was filled with a lot of team WINS!! We started the morning off with prepping stunts and tumbling for the Cheer (that we had just learned on Day 1). We added in 4 standing back tucks, done by the WitanaLanas (AKA the Witana Sisters + Ilana Tenberg). For stunts, we worked on One Man Extensions and hitches to halves. After much work, the team performed and received a Superior Blue Ribbon.
After receiving the Blue Ribbon, the team worked on their Game Day Performance (will compete on Final Day), and got ready for the UCA Camp Jump OFF!!
We selected 5 members to be part of the UCA Camp JUMP OFF! The WitanaLanas and Lilia! All girls had amazing jumps, with most girls making it to FINALS.
In the Finals, Nikki Witana and Taylor Witana remained, amongst 3 other non-Westmont cheerleaders. In the end, Taylor took home the Best Jumper of UCA Camp!! She was deemed the best jumper out of all of camp (300+ athletes). She performed her double toe-touch, followed by front hurdler! Way to represent for Westmont!
FYI: This is the second year in a row that Westmont took home Best Varsity Jumper of UCA Camp!!
The girls went back to the dorms also with the Spirit Stick! Their enthusiasm and spirit was much better on Day 2.
Coaches and Captains awarded the Spirit Stick to Jenny George! We also awarded the Cheer Blue Ribbon to Nadine Colombo. Both athletes showed amazing skills, maturity and overall positive cheerleading attitudes at Cheer Camp, thus far. Congrats, Jenny and Nadine!
The night ended with Room Decoration competition. There were many original ideas, including the Camping Room (Ashley/Taylor) and The Halloween/Cemetery Room (Mia/Mad/Angelina/Ahra). However the clear standouts were In N Out (Nova/Zuzanna) and the Rock N Roll Room (Lainey/Kate). Lainey and Kate took home the 1st place prize in the end. So cute and original! They even made matching rock t-shirts.
Day 3 Recap:
Rally Evaluations: Blue Superior Ribbon!
Spirit Stick!
All-American JV Cheerleaders: Nova Warnstrom, Madison Yazalina, Nikki Witana
All-American Varsity Cheerleaders: Mia Davis (All 4 years!), Angelina Prospal, Kaylee Witana
Day 3 started off a bit stressful, as our UCA Camp Instructor decided to give us a completely new pyramid. He told us his ideas the night before, but the team didn’t start working on the elements Day 3 morning. Us coaches started the team on the elements first thing in the morning, right at 8:30AM. The team was able to put most of the new elements together by 9AM, and we showed our UCA Instructor, Jordan. He seemed pleased. By 10:30AM, when he worked with us again, he decided to add more twists and flips and sped up the counts for us. Never a dull moment. We deemed Day 3 as The Jordan Challenge! We were going to be evaluated right after lunch (1:30PM), and one additional variable we were concerned about was our twisting tumbler, Lainey Fitch. She had been landing her ROBHSFull a few times earlier in the morning, but we weren’t sure if she was going to throw during the routine. We performed our routine twice for evaluations, and sure enough, Lainey hit her fulls SOLID both time. And the Jordan Challenge as accepted and HIT! The other cheer teams were very supportive, and many coaches came up to us and gave us many accolades.
After receiving another Blue Superior Ribbon, stress was off of the team, and onto the athletes trying out for All-American Cheerleaders. Westmont had great representation at the tryouts, and 6 of our athletes were selected. From JV we had Nova, Madison and Nikki selected. And from Varsity we had Mia, Angelina and Kaylee. This marked Mia’s 4th year in a row being awarded All-American! Way to go!
The night ended with the fun SPIRIT RALLY- CIRCUS Theme. The whole team dressed up, even Coach Amber and Coach Michelle. We had a lot of fun playing games, making machines out of our team, and learning new stunts for our football timeouts. The Spirit Rally ended with Spirit Sticks and we received a Day 3 Spirit Stick!
Day 4 Recap:
Rally Competition: 1st Place (Large Varsity)
Cheer Competition: 1st Place (Large Varsity)
Overall Game Day Competition: 2nd Place (Large Varsity)
Team Traditions Award (Plaque and Gatorade Cooler)
Spirit Stick!
