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Photo by Photo used with permission of @lzhscheer

Varsity Cheerleaders wave to the crowd as they begin their routine. The team has high hopes for their upcoming competitions.

 The girls varsity cheer team will dance, stunt, and tumble in their two upcoming competitions this weekend.

The team of 19 girls will compete at Grayslake North High School this Saturday, January 12, and on Sunday, January 13 at Niles West High School. The team will perform a 2:50 minute routine consisting of a cheer, tumbling, dance and music portion against 20 teams in their division, said Madyx Henning, freshman.

Cheer is preparing for their competition by making their routine more unique, adding transitions, and facials, said Kati Babb, freshman.

“We’ve also been doing full routines and getting ourselves mentally prepared by doing a lot of journaling,” Babb said.

The team journals together as a way to become closer as a team, and understand their goals to perform their best, Babb said. In addition, practices are daily for the team, in preparation for the competition. The team reviews their past routines to look at places that need to improved as well, Henning said.

“I think from the last competition we’ve improved our mental game because we’re making sure we’re ready mentally and overall physically, also making sure our nerves don’t get to us at the competition,” Babb said.

Cheer faces many obstacles throughout their season, such as injuries, but the team tries to overcome these challenges and become the best they can possibly be, Henning said.

“At practices we just try to keep a positive mindset while practicing. We’ve improved so much in the past two months, and it’s been a really good journey,” Henning said.

This is the first time this season that cheer will be having two competitions in a row.

“We’ll see how we perform on the first day, and the next day is kind of like getting a second chance, even though you’re not really,” Henning said, “but we’ll already be in the competitive element and pumped to perform so I think we’ll do amazing.”

With the two competitions coming up, Babb has some mixed feelings for the event.

“I am a little bit nervous because this is the first time we’ve had two competitions in a row this season, but I’m excited,” Babb said.

Cheer will be competing in two competitions next weekend as well, Henning said, “and it’s really not about the other teams, it’s just about ourselves and we just have to work together to perform the best we can.”