Wednesday, July 3, 2002
|
Wednesday, July 3, 2002 |
|
Four Fayette County girls represent USA on cheering team headed to Europe
By MICHAEL
BOYLAN
Cheerleading is a growing sport. Cheerleaders are coming off of the sidelines and competing around the world. As the sport evolves to include more gymnastics than ever, it is important to open the sport up to younger cheerleaders who can begin learning the complexities of the sport at an earlier age. This philosophy has paid off for four girls from Fayette County who will be part of Team USA as they compete in the British international Championship Open in London at the end of the month. Two of the girls, Megan Cason and Danielle Wolf train with T.U.C.S. and the other two, Megan Ealy and Joelle Pettus, train at Premier Cheering Academy. The girls have had various amounts of training and were selected by Coach Jon Murchison who has worked with all four girls on different occasions. These four will join 16 other cheerleaders ranging in age from middle school to college age to compete in the Open. Both Cason and Pettus attend Booth Middle School. Cason is 11 years old and has been cheering for three years. Pettus is 13 years old and only has one year of background in the sport. Ealy, 13, attends Madras School in Newnan and has been cheering for seven years, while Wolf, 11, attends Peeples Elementary and has been involved in the sport for three years. Though the girls attend different cheering programs and compete on different squads they have become fast friends and have encouraged each other in their sport. "I think cheerleading is fun and I enjoy the competitions," said Ealy. The other girls agreed, while Wolf added that she enjoyed the tumbling and stunting. Most of the girls started in gymnastics which led to cheering, quickly becoming known as cheernastics. Cheernastics is described as a combination of cheer, dance and gymnastics. The girls work at their gyms two to three hours a night, four to five nights a week and are very committed to the sport. Because of their ages and sizes the girls will be the flyers in the stunts. Flyers are the ones who get thrown around during the performances. The theme of this year's performance by Team USA will be very patriotic. Team USA has won the past four competitions in a row and looks to win again in England. The team will meet in its entirety for the first time in Birmingham, Ala., before heading over to England. They will begin working in England on July 23 and the competition begins on July 28. The competition will be televised by the BBC and each team will be interviewed. Among the other teams competing are Scotland, France, Germany, South Africa, Korea and, of course, England. The girls have been trying to raise the money to cover their expenses for the trip, which will be nearly $5,000. They have done car washes, sold donuts and solicited corporate donations. This Saturday, they will be at a Drive-In movie in The Chimneys subdivision, which is located off of Ga. Hwy 74 just past the Starr's Mill complex. They will be showing the film, "Spy Kids" and there will be red, white and blue glow-in-the- dark necklaces for sale, as well as snow cones. It will be a chance for the community to come together and meet the girls that will be representing the nation. 'We're very proud to be representing our country," said Pettus. "It is very humbling." This is an opportunity of a lifetime for these four girls and they plan on doing their community and their nation proud.
|
