All that stood between Strawberry Crest’s cheerleading team and a
perfect score at the FHSAA state championships was a renegade bow.
Though the judges docked two points from the Chargers’ score when a cheerleader’s hair bow fell off of her head and hit the ground, the team’s final score of 82.30 points was more than good enough to make up for it. It was good enough to win the state championship in the Small 2A Co-Ed division — the team’s third state title in as many years.
“In my eyes, it was an 84.3,” head coach Loveny Rivas says. “We did an incredible job.”
It wasn’t an easy season for the Crest boys and girls, but the end results can’t be downplayed.
This year, Rivas and her staff decided to shake things up a bit: because the team is loaded with kids who have already won multiple awards, the coaches put more of a focus on stress management than physical training. No longer was Crest a team with “nothing to lose,” as it was a few years ago. Defending
championships may be even harder than winning them. The kids have to believe in themselves.
“Every day, we have one member of the team at every practice — every time we see each other, really — they take turns sharing a quote and explaining what that quote means to them, how it affects the team and why they chose it,” Rivas says.
In addition to sharing quotes, the team often prays together and comes up with its own “war chants” to get hyped before competitions.
The team faced one of its biggest challenges later in the season, three weeks before regionals: a flyer left the team just before winter break. But the cheerleaders got together, held a vote and decided to spend the
holiday break working “twice as much” to modify the eight stunts affected by the departure.
“I’ve got to give it to the kids,” Rivas says. “They did a really good job … I’m proud that they didn’t give up.”
The team took first place at
regionals on Saturday, Jan. 7. But it didn’t fare as well as usual at
Western Conference on Thursday, Jan. 19, snapping its streak of four consecutive wins.
But that only fueled the fire within the Chargers.
The team spent the next week and change working hard to fix those mistakes and, besides that bow, put together a perfect routine for states. Runner-up Seminole Ridge finished with 74.20 points.
“It hasn’t been the perfect season by any means, but this team is
special,” Rivas says. “They’re strong. It was unfortunate for us to lose
Western Conference, but they worked really hard and didn’t let that defeat define them.”
In two weeks, the Chargers will head to the UCA National High School Cheerleading Championships, where they will try to take the program to new heights again. Crest, competing against 31 other teams in the event’s largest division, is the only
Hillsborough County program to ever medal at UCA Nationals, and finished last year’s competition in third place.
This time, the team wants to leave Kissimmee with white jackets, a big banner to hang and some first-place medals.
“This year, we’re prepared for it,” Rivas says. “We’re ready for it. We’re ready for the ESPN cameras.”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.