Hours of stretching, strength training, tumbling, bending into positions that most people can’t reach, and committing to tremendous team work. This is the world of competitive cheerleading and the reality for senior Anna DiPaula, whose competitive cheerleading team just earned the World title at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
DiPaula began her cheerleading career at the age of seven when she cheered for a recreational team. By age nine, she had started her all-star cheerleading career with the Maryland Vipers. To DiPaula, cheerleading has always been more than just shaking pompoms and doing cartwheels. “It’s an incredible team sport because you need each other. No matter who does what when you perform, your team still gets the same score,” DiPaula said
Her entire time at Vipers was spent flying. “I love to fly because all of the attention is on you and you get to be in the light,” DiPaula said. It was with Vipers senior level-five team Venom that she took her first trip to the United States All-Star Federation Cheerleading Worlds competition in 2007 to Walt Disney World.
When DiPaula joined Twisters senior level-five team F5 in 2009, she became a base. “I love the feeling of hard work and basing feels like work, and I loved being able to have a different view of stunting others than flying,” DiPaula said. The weekend of April 29, 2011, DiPaula took her fifth trip to Worlds.
“The competition is huge. It’s too large to fit everyone in the same arena. Seeing the different countries is amazing, [and] their view on cheerleading is so entertaining. They are always so excited to see American cheerleaders.” DiPaula said.
USASF requires that teams be invited with a bid from a national competition to attend Worlds. Some bids are awarded with no money and others are awarded with partial and full-paid costs. The Twisters took four teams total to Worlds this year, all without expense. This was F5’s first world title since 2005.
Winning the world’s title means gold medals, a banner, a trophy and even championship rings. “They try to make it become the Olympics of competitive cheerleading as much as they can,” DiPaula said.
With college just around the corner, DiPaula has no plans to stop anytime soon. She is currently coaching at Twisters and is attending University of Maryland in the fall. She was recruited to cheer on the competitive team there, which has an excellent reputation according to DiPaula. “They have a spirit squad to cheer at games, but the two teams are completely different. The competitive cheer team is treated just like any other sport at Maryland,” DiPaula said.
Hayley Boyle is a reporter for “The Patriot” and jcpatriot.com