The Poston Butte Cheer Team is getting ready to fulfill its biggest goal of the season at the place known for making dreams come true: Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
After accomplishing other season goals of winning the Cactus Cup and competing for an AIA State Championship – where they finished as State Runner-Up – the Broncos’ cheerleaders are leaving Feb. 4 compete in the Universal Cheerleading Association (UCA) 2016 National High School Cheerleading Championship.
“Every cheerleader watches the UCA nationals on ESPN and dreams of getting there,” Poston Butte Cheer Team member Kassie Noriega told the Ledger. “That dream for me, and the rest of the team, is finally coming true.”
The Broncos will have two of the 38 teams competing in the Small Varsity Coed Division, beginning with the semi-finals on Feb. 6. Teams advancing to the finals will compete later that same day.
The UCA event is widely regarded as the premier cheer competition. The best of the best hope to qualify for this annual event, which is televised each year on ESPN.
“Our (main) goal this year was nationals in Florida because that’s the biggest competition out there,” said Noriega, one of six seniors on the 24-member team. “We want to be one of the first coed teams [from Arizona] to go to UCA.
The Broncos competed at the UCA qualifier in December at Verrado High School for its one and only chance to make it to Florida. In their first-ever UCA-qualifying competition they finished in first place and are one of only two coed teams in Arizona – Chandler is the other – headed to Orlando.
“We’re kind of breaking the mold with going to UCA,” third-year Poston Butte Cheer head coach Erica Duckett said. “There aren’t very many teams from Arizona that go to UCA.”
According to Duckett, who competed regularly at the UCA event during her high school years, qualifying for this event is the evolution of the Broncos’ cheer program in addition to the fulfillment of a goal she had for the team when she first took the head coaching position.
“My first two years we were close [to being ready for UCA competition], but I didn’t see the desire from every team member,” she said. “At the beginning of this year, as I watched the team, I told myself, ‘You know what? They’re ready.’”
Exactly what did Duckett see that provided such confidence?
“I saw them genuinely love each other,” she responded. “We have such a smaller group that these kids were able to build relationships with one another, they’ve earned respect from each other, and they work extremely hard.”
“These kids have passion for what they do, they have passion for each other,” she continued. “It was that closeness that I saw with them that I knew they would fight for each other all season. That’s what made me say, ‘It’s time, let’s just do it.’”
Duckett’s own experience at the same competition makes her suitable to assess her team’s chance at success this weekend. She admitted her team, like most, does some things better than others and would rate it no less than an eight on a scale of 10.
Noriega and Rivers McFadden, another senior on the team, said the team’s strengths include stunting, technique, timing, and synchrony. Both say the team must nail its Cheer performance to have a chance to advance as a finalist because that’s where judges are typically the most critical.
The Poston Butte Cheer Team, which won the AIA State Championship in 2013, has been one of the most successful in the state over the past few years. Maintaining the level of excellence is important to team members, especially the seniors. It takes a significant commitment to achieve the type of success the Broncos have had.
“It all starts with the coaches,” McFadden said. “They push us day in and day out, they have do two-a-days, they have us at school at 6 a.m. They push us harder than I have ever been pushed and I’ve played football and volleyball. The coaches have a goal and a desire for what they believe we can achieve and they instill that in us.”
The architect of the magical place where the Broncos are headed once said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
Words everyone can adhere to, indeed.