By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Competition cheer is not about pom-poms and spirit chants.
The girls and boys in Intensity Elite Cheer in Hays are honing their skills to become elite athletes who compete five times a year across the Midwest in ESPN-style competitions with hundreds of other participants.
Intensity Elite Cheer recently remodeled and rented the former Rue21 space at Big Creek Crossing.
Most of the 18 team members have been together for three years. Intensity Elite has both junior and senior teams this year. Youth on the team are ages 5 to 19. The gym also offers tumbling classes.
Amanda McCall and Keeli Starks have coached together for three years, but branched out on their own to form Intensity Elite this year.
For those who have not seen competitive cheer, it's not like what many have seen at their local football games. Teams train for 2-minute-30-second routines with tumbling, dance and stunts set to music.
Hours of practice go into the brief competition time on the mat in front of judges.
This is 15-year-old Kenzie Wilhelm's first year on a competitive cheer team. She is also a cheerleader at Russell High School, but was encouraged by friends to join Intensity Elite.
"I like that it is more of performance," she said. "It is a lot of hard work to do. You really grow with teammates on a different level than other sports do."
One of the the reason for the tight bonds is the need for trust. Wilhelm is a flyer, which means she is the team member in the stunt group who is thrown in the air.
"Obviously, in stunting, you are bound together whether you are a base or flyer to do what you are supposed to do," she said. "You have to put your trust in them. It is important to have a bond with them to do so."
Wilhelm said the stunts were scary at first.
"You have to tie that back and push that away so the stunt can hit," she said.
Despite being a competitive sport, Wilhelm said other teams watch their peers compete and are supportive during performances.
Abby Filak, 12, is on both the junior and senior teams. This is her third year in competitive cheer and she said she enjoys meeting people at competitions.
"I just like spending time with my teammates and learning all the new routines," she said.
Both levels competed at the Rockstar Championships in November in Kansas City with the juniors winning a Regional Championship and the senior team winning Regional and Level championships.
McCall said in addition to developing physically, the athletes learn teamwork, confidence and how to work with a coach.
"[It teaches them] how to win wonderfully and lose gracefully," McCall said.
COVID has made practice and competition more difficult. The youth space out during warm ups, but when the teams practice stunts, the kids have to be in close proximity to each other.
During their competition in November, the senior squad had to wear masks during their routine.
"As you can imagine, that is a lot of running and jumping and tumbling, so there is a lot of safety factors involved if you have to wear a mask," McCall said. "One of our kids, her mask came down while she was tumbling. That could have got caught on an arm."
The kids are also used to competing in front of thousands of people in event centers, but attendance has been restricted because of the pandemic.
The team was formally training at Premier Indoor Training. McCall said she hopes the foot traffic at the mall will help make the gym more visible and promote the team.
"People will stop and look and watch the kids and we've put up flyers," McCall said. "I think it will be good for us and the mall too because most of these kids are from out of town. That will bring in Hays dollars too."
The gym will have open gyms from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Dec. 23 and 30. You must reserve a spot at [email protected].
The gym also will be offering Fundamentals of Cheer for youth 5 to 10 who do not want to compete in a full cheer season. The sessions will be once a week from Jan. 17 thought April 22. The kids will perform in a showcase in April. See Intensity Elite's Facebook page for more information.
"Join us. It's fun. The kids work really hard, but they have a ton of fun at the same time," McCall said.
