Laguna Beach High Varsity Cheerleading Team Takes First Place

Submitted by Melissa Cavanaugh:

The Laguna Beach High Varsity cheer squad came away with top honors at the NRG Nationals in La Habra on May 4, winning the 5’ tall trophy for Grand Champions in the All Stars and Senior High School division, as well as placing first place in the Varsity Novice division and winning a spirit stick for “awesome attitude.” This was their second competitive cheer experience.

On Saturday, April 13, the LBHS Varsity Cheer squad competed in their first-ever competition, the 2013 SoCal Classic, where they also took home first place in their division.  Under the direction of Yvette Perez, the 15 girls on the team danced, tumbled, stunted and cheered their way to this win and also received one of two Spirit sticks that were given out to the over 100 teams that competed in tens of categories for all age groups throughout the day at the NRG Dance and Cheer Competition at Claremont High School.

Making it to this competition was the culmination of Coach Perez’s and the entire team’s dedication and desire to take the LBHS Cheer squad to the next level.

“As a competitive cheerleader both in high school and college,” stated Perez, “I wanted to bring that same level of competitiveness to the LBHS Cheerleading Team. It is important to me that these girls reach for a higher level of achievement and learn that with hard work and dedication, anything is possible. I could not be more proud of every single member on the team. They set a goal and stuck to it and it paid off.”

In addition to hard work and determination, making it to this new level required additional monetary expenditures. In order to cover the costs of a professional all star choreographer and extra gym time, the girls raised approximately $5,500 during the fall and winter with fundraisers ranging from bake sales and raffles to selling space on the annual Varsity Cheer Football banner which was displayed at all home football games.

Many thanks go out to all the 2012-2013 Varsity Cheer supporters including the following banner advertisers: Coast Opthamology, Flash Electrology, Surf Skate, Cappi Pidwell – Ms. Mindset, Malibu Custom Carts, Sundried Tomato Café, GreenTree Boutique, REALmediations.com, La Sirena Grill and MeKeown Plumbing.

Tryouts for the 2013-2014 school year took place recently and, with 13 returners on Varsity Cheer and 8 incoming freshman on JV Cheer, the LBHS Cheer program continues to grow. During the summer, the girls will seek sponsors for the Fall 2014 Cheer Football Banner. Interested businesses should contact yperez@lbusd.org.