NW GUILFORD - "It was a completely different experience this time," Jennifer Loveday-Donovan, Northwest Guilford High School's varsity cheerleading coach and head competition cheer coach, said of her cheerleaders' third consecutive state championship win in late May. This year's team placed first in NCHSAA's (North Carolina High School Athletic Association) Small Varsity Non-Tumble D1 competition while scoring 86.80 points, the most points ever scored by a NWHS cheerleading team.
While the thrill of the win was equal to previous years, both preparing for the competition during the pandemic and the competition experience itself were starkly different.
"The kids had already had a terrible year because of COVID, and we struggled so much to practice... We didn't know how to have Zoom practice or use any of those major platforms," Loveday-Donovan said. "And then when we did start practicing in-person, we couldn't practice touching for a long time. And then finally we could tumble. And then finally we could stunt, but they had to wear masks and tape them to their faces... there were just so many obstacles. The pressure of the environment was more than just the pressure of winning."