After months of practice and preparation, the MSU cheerleading squad withdrew from the National Collegiate Cheerleading Championship that starts today.
The competition lasts until Monday at Walt Disney’s Wild World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla.
The Bulldog squad decided to withdraw in late December because various team members would not be returning for the spring semester.
“We had a lot of challenges dealing with turnover,” said head coach Darryl Lyons. “Some people aren’t coming back this semester and we didn’t feel like we were solidly ready to go.”
Not being able to demonstrate their routine on a national level has left several squad members feelings frustrated.
“We are extremely disappointed, but we still have hopes for years in the future,” said Shelly Johnson. “Even though we put in a lot of work there is still things we need to work on to become even better for next year.”
Other squad members share optimism and want to do everything they can to prepare for next year’s contest.
“We can definitely learn from our errors and build on it for next year so that next year we can be perfect,” said Mac Youngblood. “Nationals is our championship and that is where we get to show the nation who we are as a squad.”
Now that the focus is off nationals, the team is currently working on new routines to entertain and dazzle MSU fans at all home basketball games.
“We want our men and women to be the best that they can be,” said Lyons. “We want our fans to support them and make our atmosphere just like it was against Kentucky. We want every game to be that exciting.”