Bringing it on

NMAA State Spirit Competition creates long-lasting memories for cheerleaders and dancers in NM

Spirit is kind of a big deal in New Mexico.

According to a recent survey by Men’s Fitness magazine, Albuquerque is the city with the third highest level of individual participation in cheerleading. The survey, released in early 2009, showed Albuquerque having a ranking 127 percent higher than the national average.

Albuquerque is also the home of the annual New Mexico State Spirit Competition, sponsored by the New Mexico Activities Association and Varsity Brands, Inc. Here, cheerleading and dance teams from across the state compete each year for a state trophy. This year approximately 1500 cheerleaders and dancers competed, according to NMAA Assistant Director Kristin Derr.

The event is usually held at The Pit, the basketball arena for the University of New Mexico, but due to construction the 2009 event was held April 3-4 at the Santa Ana Star Center. Derr said that about 10,000 spectators attended the event, making the Spirit Competition the NMAA's third largest event, after the State Basketball and State Football championships.

2009 winners

47 cheer and dance teams competed this year. The 2009 state champions in the Cheer category are San Jon (A), Texico (AA), Hope Christian (AAA), Artesia (AAAA) and Rio Grande (Coed). The 2009 state champions in the Dance category are Valley Christian (A-AA), St. Michael's (AAA), Roswell (AAAA) and Valley (AAAAA). To be eligible for a state trophy, teams must compete in two categories.

Cheer teams must compete both the Crowd Involvement Cheer and Cheer with Music categories. Dance teams must compete in two out of four categories: Precision Drill, Dance, Pom and Prop. The two scores are averaged together to determine a team’s overall ranking. Dance routines and Cheer with Music routines are two minutes and thirty seconds long, and Crowd Involvement Cheer routines are one minute and thirty seconds long.

Preparations, stress and a sense of accomplishment

Competing at State can create important memories for participants. Though preparing for state can be stressful on individuals, it also can help promote team bonding and growth.

Brittney Salas, a UNM cheerleader who cheered at La Cueva High School for five years (Hope Christian School eighth graders can be on varsity), said that preparing for State was much more serious and intense than other practices throughout the year, but these practices were also the most important to her.

“Performing all five years at State were the five most memorable and important weekends of my high school career, no question about it,” Salas said. “Taking state was by far my greatest accomplishment in high school.”

Salas said cheerleading has been important to her throughout her life.

“Especially in high school, cheer was my world. College, too, but in high school I was known throughout the state as one of the better flyers, so living up to those expectations was everything to me,” Salas said.

Melissa Leyva, a four-year cheerleader for Las Cruces High School, said competing did not affect her studies, but that didn’t make preparing for the competition any easier.

“It didn’t interfere,” Leyva said, “but it was more stressful than school work.”

Leyva said that succeeding in cheerleading and at State was very important to her in high school.

“It was very important, just because you get to show everyone what you worked hard for. Just showing that we could put aside all the drama and pull it off it was a great moment for us because we know we succeeded. Throughout high school it [State] was very important to me, because that is what I lived for.”

Amy Valles, a four-year member of the Socorro High School dance team, said her team placed second at State every year she was on the team.

Valles described the feeling of being on the Pit floor as “so nervous but the scared-out-of-your-mind feeling that we all love so much.”

Valles also said that performing well at State was important to her.

“It was so important...if I didn’t do well I was devastated,” Valles said.

But though performing well at State was an accomplishment, other accomplishments were equally important to her.

“It was more of a short-lived rush...I later realized that it wasn't that important. Not compared to lasting accomplishments like graduation,” Valles said. “In high school I thought it was what defined me but as I got to college I realized that other goals I had would impact my life a lot more.”

Alexandra Artrip danced for the Rio Rancho High School Rhythamettes dance team and competed at State three times. Artrip said the preparation was mostly stressful due to her desire to perform well and being around her teammates more than usual.

“It was stressful just because I really wanted to do well,” Artrip said. “There was a lot of stress between teammates, too, because we spent such a great amount of time together.”

Artrip said succeeding at State was important to her because of all the time she put into preparing for it, but that feeling like she did well on the floor was more important than winning.

“Preparing for State was just more fast-paced and a little more stressful than most regular season practices because there was such much riding on it,” Artrip said. “We practiced two hours a day, five days a week, and then on Mondays and Fridays we had an additional hour of practice in the mornings before school. The performance itself was really important to me because I knew it was what we had worked toward all year and so many people would be there to support us. All the hours of work couldn't go to waste. Placement to me was never as important as performance…even though we never placed overall like I wish we had, our team improved our score by 26 points one year. That was a great moment for me and my team.”

Allison Rogers, who also danced for the Rhythamettes while Artrip was on the team, said that the feeling of performing well was more important than winning a place, even after difficult practices.

“Preparing for state was so intense... our coach would get mad at the little things, but it’s a huge thing for us here in New Mexico, and the practices are nonstop and every little thing is always picked out and you just have to take it," Rogers said. "The state performance was the most important to me…it was like nationals on all those cheer movies but it was State. It was the biggest thing ever and it was so fun.”

Find out more about the State Spirit Competition

Written April 16, 2009

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