Since 2018, there have been no signs of cheer competitions at Gibson Southern. But, that all changed this year. With the growing number of cheerleaders at the school, the Lady Titan cheer team gathered enough girls to start a competition team. Melissa Matsel, coach of the Lady Titan cheerleaders, has been coaching at Gibson Southern for 12 years and was here when the squad originally had a competitive team.
“[The previous competitions] are completely different than what we do now,” Matsel said. “We do a different style of a routine. Back then, we did two minutes and thirty seconds, which included music and a cheer portion.”
The Titans now perform a timeout routine. In the cheer world, a timeout routine is a performance in which the girls have exactly one minute and 15 seconds to perform and perfect their routine. It is the exact amount of time that a timeout at a basketball game would be, which is where it gets its title.
“The buzzer sounds, we’re allowed to take the floor,” Matsel said. “At one minute, it sounds again, and we have 15 seconds to get everything off the mat like we would at a basketball game. So, the game would then be able to continue.”
One minute and fifteen seconds may seem like a long time when in the stands, but it is different for the cheerleaders on the floor. There are many details to perfect.
“We have been working on this routine since June to make sure everybody has a place to go and know where they’re going throughout the routine and trying to create something that the crowd would want to be involved in, making sure our stunts go up and hit,” Matsel said. “Yes, it’s hard.”
The girls have been to two regular competitions this year. At their first competition, the Titans placed fourth overall in their division, and in their second competition, they placed second overall in their division.
“The first competition was more of a learning experience because we’ve never done it before,” senior cheerleader Shelbi Roberts said. “But, we did well, got our feedback, worked on that and then at our second competition we got a higher score.”
The Titans are now fine tuning their routine for a chance to compete at State. In order to compete at State, the girls must submit a video to be judged out of 27 schools. Only 10 of the schools advance to compete in person at State on Nov. 4.
“I think that we have a really good chance,” Roberts said. “We’ve taken about six or seven takes of the video.”
While the Titan cheer squad has grown the past few years, there is still room for growth to be even more competitive with other schools.
“We definitely have a much smaller team than everyone else, so I feel like us being able to keep up with the other teams is really something different,” freshman cheerleader Isla Luhring said. The girls submitted their video and are awaiting a response of whether they will get the opportunity to compete at State. They will be informed of whether or not they will be competing on Monday, Oct. 16.
Update: The Titan cheerleaders qualified for the IASP State Competition in the small school timeout division.
