Cheering to Competition
Christina Schnelle
Next month on December 1st, our Putnam County cheerleaders will be heading to Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri to compete in the Missouri Cheerleading Coaches Association (MCCA) time-out cheer competition. While schedules may not be out yet, our girls are slotted anywhere from 1-5 p.m. This is a very exciting event for our girls, not only because it is a competition which they are just drooling to win, but because it is rather new to them. In previous years, the competition has been held in Columbia, Missouri, with a summer regional competition then a fall state competition. As mentioned before, competition will now be held in St. Charles, Missouri, and regional and state competitions are now in the fall and winter respectively. Our cheerleaders are competing in the MCCA’s new time-out division.
It would be an understatement to say our Putnam County cheerleaders and their coach, Mrs. Lisa Stobbe, are excited for the time-out division. The cheerleaders have been practicing diligently since May, when all the planning for the upcoming competition starts. To work towards a fantastic routine to impress all people is hard work. Between the conditioning, standard cheering, and all the things that the coach wants the girls to improve on, and preparing for competition, there is certainly no room to suggest that our girls are anything but determined to win at Lindenwood. The girls and their coach have shown a tenacious desire to make their routine as perfect as possible, which is no easy task when injuries are hard to avoid. Though a few of the girls have been hurt, the girls have held fast to create a routine -- one of which has been modified a lot since May, that everyone from Putnam County can be proud of.
Mrs. Stobbe, the cheer competition coach, when asked what her biggest goal for competition is, she replied “I want my cheerleaders to have a good experience representing their school and show-casing their crowd leadership skills”. Between the several modifications and short amount of practice time available, the Putnam County cheerleaders have definitely put an astounding effort into their routine and are sure to blow all of their challengers and all of the spectators out of the water. To show your support, remember to mark the date December 1st on your calendar for the Putnam County cheerleaders time-out competition!
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