Sydney Castillo
Staff Writer
5, 6, 7, 8! Cue the music, don’t forget the moves, and never lose that smile.
The cheerleading and song teams are preparing for the Universal Dance Association Nationals Competition in Florida.
This year, Cal is among hundreds of teams from across the nation that are competing for the gold.
In order to qualify for nationals, the song team first competed locally, winning several competitions that later enabled them to make the trip to Florida.
The team also participated in a UDA summer camp at which they were evaluated. This allowed them to qualify for the national competition in Florida where they performed last weekend.
The song team had an impressive record to live up to. They have qualified for nationals every year for the past 16 years, and haven’t lost a local competition for the past 11 years.
“The thought of nationals motivates us to do our best,” said junior Melanie Eiges, a member of the song team.
To prepare for this major competition song team members dedicated countless hours to perfect routines.
“We practice all the time, two hours on weekdays and four hours on the weekends,” said song team member Megan Sarmenta, a junior. “We are so excited to compete.”
The song team competed against 200 other teams in both pom routines, and jazz routines.
Pom routines are done in original uniforms as opposed to the jazz routines that are performed in new costumes without pompoms.
“I really hope we are able to place in the top five since we’ve been working so hard,” said Sarmenta.
Sarmenta said Rosary High School from Los Angeles is the song team’s biggest competition.
Performing in front of crowds at home basketball games helped the team prepare for nationals.
“We keep the same high energy from the beginning to end of our routines, and that’s what makes us better than the rest,” said Eiges.
Excitement builds as the team waits to perform, but before each routine the girls have a huddle session.
“We have a meeting where we sing, pray, and breathe before each performance,” said Sarmenta.
Cal’s cheerleaders have also been preparing for nationals this year.
Like the song team, cheer competes locally to qualify for the national competition.
The cheer girls will be leaving for the competition in Florida on the 8th.
“First we had to qualify at a UCA competition and get a bid to Florida,” said senior cheerleader Jaydee Marek. “We only had one chance to qualify so it was extremely important that we did.”
Once the team qualified, they focused more on practice.
“We prepare for nationals by practicing a lot and perfecting our routine,” said junior cheerleader Brittany White.
The team is determined to do their best in the competition.
Unfortunately, many girls have been injured throughout the season.
These setbacks have motivated the team to work harder in order to not let the rest of the team down.
The cheerleaders strive to make each performance one to remember.
Coach Sarah Kaldunski, believes the girls’ ability to motivate each other is going to help in the competition.
“We bought the girls yoyos with “YOLO”, our team motto written on them to get them pumped for the competition” said Kaldunski.
The team’s positive energy and teamwork makes them better than other schools.
“Many people on the team have a special kind of bond which makes us better than the rest,” said White.
Marek agrees and believes the team’s ability to work well together gives them an edge against other teams.
She hopes that edge will help the cheerleaders next week.
Both teams hope to make Cal proud at nationals.
