A local cheerleading squad is once again on its way to competing on the national level.
Melissa Fairchild is the Knox Pop Warner cheer director as well as the head coach. She says the Knox Junior Pee Wee cheerleaders had their first competition Sunday in Valparaiso, “They’re nine- and ten-year-olds and one eleven-year-old and there’s a few eight-year-olds. They got first place at districts and so they’re going on to regionals, and if they get first or second place at regionals, then they get to go to nationals, which is in Disney World.”
It would be a return to nationals for the team, although only one member of last year’s squad returned this year. The rest of them either moved up from a lower age division or were completely new to the program. Fairchild, along with assistant coach Krissy Ringer and team mom Angela Maroules have been working with the team’s 19 members since August to get them ready for competition. She says the team prepares a two-and-a-half minute routine incorporating gymnastics and dance, as well as cheer.
Regionals will be held November 8 in DeKalb, Illinois, and Fairchild says the team’s already raising money, so they’ll be able to travel to nationals in December if they qualify.
