On Jan. 31, North’s varsity cheer team became sectional champions and made their way into the IHSA state preliminary competition. The team’s season ended finishing 10th overall in the state coed division, winning the Dukane conference, and scoring the highest points ever for a North team in a competition.
The cheer team has a busy year-round schedule filled with practices and meets.
“Our season, we’ve had tryouts, I want to say early April last year, and we continue until basketball season is over,” said head varsity coach Adrianne Noworul.
Quality preparation before events is crucial to the team’s success. Their time to practice choreography and stunts and get the routine within time constraints is of the utmost importance to the team.
“We have our routine [for] three minutes. That’s the max timeframe that
you can have in your routine. And so it has to, for the most part, be perfect,” said Noworul.
They strive for perfection in their routines. With their limited time that they actually perform, they prepare extensively behind the scenes. All of this work helps lead to their success, but before they win any competitions, they need to have confidence and faith in their teammates.
“It’s hard [for] one athlete to do what they’re supposed to do if they don’t trust everybody else on their team,” Noworul said.
With this pressure on the team, the more experienced members find all the ways that they can to help out and guide each other.
“[Without] having the upperclassmen bring in the younger ones and teach them our way and take them under their wing and everything, there’s no way we would be as successful as we are,” Noworul said.
After the team builds trust with each other, they move on to their routine. In the beginning, the team starts with the skeleton of the routine. Then they have constant tweaks and modifications. They have their own choreographer, Britney Mooney DiBlasi, who comes in to clean up the routine and make changes based on the judges’ feedback. The team is delighted with their most recent routine.
“All of our routines I’ve liked, but this one I think has been my favorite. I think it’s been the team’s favorite too,” Noworull said.
The team’s shared experiences of the season and the encouragement of one another make their bond closer, leading them to their success during the season.
“We become such a family over the months, that’s how we’ve continued to build a successful program year after year,” said Noworul.
