Girls show spirit at Foundation cheer camp

ANDREA MUJICA STAFF WRITER

The Foundation Academy cheer team celebrated its annual cheerleading camp from June 5 to 8 at the Leiferman Family Gymnasium on the Tilden Campus.

Every year, this camp helps young athletes to develop and nurture a passion for the sport in a Christcentered environment.

“We love putting on this event for the children because it’s really important to sort of funnel cheerleaders, get them excited about the cheerleading program — this is a great way to do that,” senior Mia Sanders said. “And also, I really enjoy getting to impact these kids and getting a chance to see their faces light up when they learn something new.”

Campers of any level are taught age-appropriate fundamental skills of cheerleading during their time at camp.

“We practice our routine every day of the camp, and we only have four days to get a whole routine, (which) is about 11 eight counts — which is 1:30 minutes — and we have to include a dance, a jump a partner stunt and a pyramid,” senior Rylan Marion said. “So, it’s pretty hard with little 10-year-olds, but we get it done, and it always turns out really good in the end. It gets a little stressful when we are doing it, but I love how it turns out.” Toward the end of the camp, row athletes — which are separated in groups — had the opportunity to show their parents what they learned during the week.

“Teaching them the moves is really fun, but it’s also really funny, too,” Sanders said. “They enjoy learning new things. It’s kind of what they really enjoy most about it. We teach them motions, we teach them dance, we teach them a whole routine that they get to show their parents, and it’s just really fun to see how they interact with the material and how they interact with (one another).”