DGN hosted a cheer competition for the first time in the history of the program Dec. 13. This competition, the Trojan Holiday Spectacular, welcomed 70 teams ranging from middle school, high school junior varsity, and high school varsity.
“We’ve wanted to host a competition for a long time, but we never did,” varsity cheer coach Allyson Passarelli said.
The opportunity to host a cheer competition at DGN came when a competition usually hosted at Lincoln Way Central could no longer be hosted there, and DGN offered to host instead. DGN co-hosted this competition with an organization called Camp Jeff.
“There is a lot of planning and organization that goes into it,” Passarelli said. “The biggest difference between hosting a competition here and competing at a different school is that we were here from about 6:15 a.m. to about 6:30 p.m., which is a really long day.”
The competition was divided into two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The morning session consisted of middle school and high school varsity teams, while the afternoon session was made up of all high school varsity teams. Both sessions had 1A, 2A, and 3A divisions, in which a team’s placement depends on its school size. Middle school teams had their own division in the morning session, and coed teams had their own divisions in the afternoon session.
“Usually we’re getting to a competition hours before and spending all that time prepping hair, makeup, and making sure everything’s all good,” assistant cheer coach Brianna Paczkowski said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of that time because the girls spent the whole morning navigating the school and helping other teams.”
The night before the competition, the cheer team and coaches set up everything necessary for the coming day, allowing for the competition to run smoothly once the teams all arrived. The morning of the competition, cheerleaders met each team at the door to escort them to their designated classrooms.
“The day of the competition runs pretty smoothly because everything is navigated prior to that,” Paczkowski said. “It’s a lot of scheduling and making sure things are taken care of.”
Hosting a cheer competition comes with not only the same responsibilities as hosting other games, events, and tournaments, but also the responsibilities of putting on a performance. Along with setting up the venue, getting judges, organizing concessions, coordinating with the CMG staff, and live-streaming the event, cheer competitions require making sure all 70 teams have rooms to get ready in, and keeping track of the performance order so that all teams compete at their scheduled time.
“There’s a lot behind the scenes that goes into it,” Associate Principal for Athletics David Rose said. “With this one it’s even more important because we have 70 schools coming in. That’s a lot of schools, athletes, spectators, judges, and a lot of moving parts.”
For the team, competing at DGN differs from competing at another school in many ways, from the amount of time spent at the competition to the amount of stress or pressure they may feel.
“If we were going to a competition at another school, we’d essentially show up maybe an hour before we perform, perform, and then maybe have anywhere from a half an hour to two hour wait before awards,” Passarelli said. “It’s a lot quicker of a day. We just show up and perform, we don’t have to do any organization.”
Additionally, the team does not place nor get a trophy regardless of their score. Different competitions vary in whether or not the host school is allowed to place, so DGN chose not to. However, they are judged and scored in the same manner as they are at other competitions, and they get feedback on their performance that allows them to improve for their next competition.
“Our motto is essentially ‘Every competition, let’s do something a little bit better,’” Passarelli said. “This was our third one, so we definitely did things better than we had last weekend when we competed Saturday and Sunday.”
Different aspects of being on home turf changed the experience of competing at DGN. More friends and family members came to watch the team compete since the competition was closer than the others, which simultaneously boosts confidence and adds stress for the team.
“I felt a little bit more pressure just because people I knew were watching me, and there were also a bunch of teams watching us,” senior cheerleader Sawyer Hansen said. “I felt like there were a bunch of eyes on us, but I did think I had way more fun at this competition than I have at any other.”
Competing at DGN also added a sense of comfort to the team’s experience, as they were familiar with the setting of the competition. Warming up and performing in their own practice space was less stressful than in other competitions.
“Performing here, I had less stress going into it because it’s home turf, I know what I’m doing, and I know the surroundings where we’re performing,” Hansen said. “It’s nice to know how it ran and the ‘in’ of everything.”
DGN received positive feedback from judges, spectators, athletes, and teams following their first time hosting a competition.
“It was a really successful event,” Passarelli said. “We had a lot of help from our athletic department, our athletic director, Mr. Rose, and the whole CMG staff. We couldn’t have done it without them. The day went well and we’re excited to host again.”
