Hard Work, Talent Takes Neshaminy Cheerleading to the Top

From competition to competition this season, the Neshaminy High School's varsity cheerleading team topped their competitors.

Their "great" season ended February 25 in Ocean City, Maryland at the Reach the Beach competition when they came in second place, beating out 28 other teams in their division.

To get to that place, the team's coach, Mary Hart, said they began the work last June. The girls began working on their tumbling skills in June and began practicing as a team in August.

"The girls worked hard every day," Hart said, adding that they "were nicest bunch of girls" she has worked with in the 11 years she has coached at Neshaminy.

After the football season is over, Hart said that the teams started spending more on their competition skills, including stunts, pyramids, basket tosses and especially tumbling.

"We’ve been focusing more on tumbling this year," Hart said, noting that the team practiced their tumbling at a gymnastics gym to improve skills and "make the skills they already have better and cleaner."

The 36 girls on the team this year, Hart said, were "beyond their talent."

"They pushed the whole year and got better each time. They gave me 100 percent and that’s all I could ask for," Hart said.

Neshaminy's cheerleading program isn't limited to cheering for football and basketball and competing though. Hart said that the team participates and organizes community service events, including the high school's Alex's Lemonade Stand fundraiser. Each year, they also travel to Philadelphia to cheer along the Susan G. Komen three-day route.

The team also holds a Thanksgiving food drive, a holiday gift drive and, this year, they collected toys and donated them to Toys for Tots.

Though the team competed in many competitions this season, Hart stated that the peak of their season was at Nationals in Ocean City, Maryland.

"The girls understand that if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best," she said, adding that there was the most competition for the team at the Reach the Beach competition.

"They did really really well at Nationals. It’s definitely a testament for how talented they are," Hart said.

In addition, Hart said that Neshaminy's junior varsity also did a "great job this year."

"They had a lot of new talent on their team. They started off as a basically brand new team at Neshaminy and I think they did a great job," she said.

Though the season is over, Hart said that the girls are "already excited to try new stunts" and that "they’re still working on tumbling." The program is holding try-outs for next season beginning April 23.