On Dec. 2, the Akins Varsity Cheer Team took center stage and won something to cheer about.

The team traveled to San Antonio to compete in the Universal Cheerleaders Association’s Southwest Regional Competition, winning a bid to compete in UCA’s national competition at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

It was the first time in Akins school history that the cheer team had a chance to go to a national competition. Sophomore Jennae Rojas said becoming a qualifying team was an amazing experience.

“It felt amazing, like a whole brick lifted off of us, but another one added but it felt like everything was worth it,” she said.

Unfortunately, because of a lack of funding, the Akins cheer team decided they would not be able to attend the national competition. Alyssa Alcala, the previous cheer coach left Akins in December, and Allison Larson, took over leading the program in December.

“To go to nationals, it was going to cost each family $1,600,” Larson said.

The team did try to have one fundraiser in December, but they simply ran out of time to raise the total amount of funds needed to take the whole team to Florida before the national competition in mid-February.

Senior Jillian Zamora said preparing for the qualifier competition took a lot of hard work and practice time.

“It took us around 2 months, and it was hard because it was still football season and we had to do morning practices,” she said.

Some cheerleaders expressed frustration that cheerleading is often misunderstood and not seen as an athletic sport.

“Some people don’t understand that it’s a sport, it’s not just something we do to look pretty,” Rojas said.

Even though the Akins cheer team wasn’t able to go to nationals, that was still a very emotional day for the Akins cheerleaders.

Senior Jayden Davilla, a captain on the cheer team said she has participated in cheerleading for more than 10 years.

“I have been cheering since I was 3. That day was the last day on the mat for me and it was very emotional,” she said.

Missing out on attending this year’s national competition was hard for the Akins cheer team, but members who will return to Akins next year have made a pact to qualify for nationals, again, next year by competing in more competitions and holding more fundraisers.

Another new achievement this year for the team was acquiring three new male members to compete with them at the competition, helping them to win their bid to nationals.

Davilla said the addition of the male cheerleaders was a big help this year.

“That is also the first year that we have had more than one boy on the team,” she said. “There was only one other boy in all Akins cheer history. And it started out as a joke and they actually really enjoyed cheer.”