At 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 22, the Sedona Red Rock High School spiritline gets an early start on what promises to be a more ambitious season when the Scorpions travel to a preseason cheerleading camp.
Head coach Katarina Houser, assistant Jill Hamblin and 14 SRRHS boy and girl cheerleaders will be on the bus for the next four days, shuttling between Sedona and the Arizona Grand Resort and Spa in Ahwatukee for a Universal Cheerleaders Association summer camp.
“It’s pretty involved,” Houser said. “At the last day, there is a competition [for] everyone. There are places and trophies. But mostly, the camp is about learning.
“It is purely educational: The whole point is learning new cheers [and] new stunts, working with college-level cheerleaders to kind of see what the future would be after high school cheer.”
But it won’t be all books, teachers and dirty looks. After the competition, Houser plans to have the team let off some steam for three hours in the resort’s water park.
“It’s everyone’s favorite,” she said. “It’s like, ‘Compete. Be really crazy,’ and then we can all play in the water park on the last day.”
Although the Scorpions’ finish at the camp doesn’t figure into team qualifications for any postseason events in March, Houser considers this camp to be the best.
“They’re showing us the highest level of stunts and dances that we can learn,” she said. “UCA generally sponsors all the state competitions, so it’s good to know the level at which they’re going to be expecting us to compete so we can make a routine based on that.”
At practice for the camp Monday, July 20, less-experienced cheerleaders such as freshman Dylan and sophomore Erin Ahern, sophomore Litzi Ontiveros, junior Maggie Smoczynski and senior Allisone Doerner helped the team finalize its first routines for camp with junior Taylor Brown — the only member of the team who has been with Houserman since she started as head coach three years ago.
For more photos and the full story, please see the Wednesday, July 22, issue of the Sedona Red Rock News.
