THE ROAD TO RED RAIDER GLORY STARTS WITH POP WARNER MIDGET FOOTBALL AND CHEER

The road to the Pop Warner National Championships is a long and difficult one! For North Rockland Midget Football and Cheer (NRMF) that journey begins on August 1. That’s when practice starts in preparation for our football games and competition season. The NRMF cheerleaders and their coaches work diligently from that first week in August, changing and perfecting their routines in order to contend with the talent from across the region.

For NRMF cheerleaders, the first stop on the road to Nationals is the Rockland County Competition. It is their first competition of the season and they have two minutes and thirty seconds (2:30) to showcase their best routine. This year’s County Competition was held on October 20, 2012 at Monroe Woodbury High School. The top two teams in each division then advance to the second stop on the road to Nationals, their regional qualifiers.

The NRMF Midget, Pee Wee and Jr. Pee Wee cheerleaders advanced to the regional qualifiers which were held on October 28, 2012 at Sun Bank Arena in Trenton, NJ. Again, only the top two teams in the regional qualifiers advance to the third and final stop on the road to Nationals, the Eastern Region Competition. And, again, the NRMF Midget, Pee Wee and Jr. Pee Wee cheerleaders took the top spots and advanced on to the Eastern Region Championships, which were held on November 17 and 18, 2012 at Sun Bank Arena in Trenton, NJ. The Eastern Region consists of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C.

At the Eastern Regional competition, the cheer squads again perform their top (2:30) two-minute and thirty second routine in hopes of winning. The Eastern Region consists of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C. The first and second place squads in the region in each cheer division are then invited to perform at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports™ Complex in Disney World, where they compete against the best of the best, in hopes of winning a national championship for their local association. All three of NRMF’s competing squads earned their invitation to the Pop Warner National Championships!

The Pop Warner National Cheer & Dance Championships took place from December 3 – 7, 2012 and featured over 400 cheer and dance squads who competed at the five-day long event. They were judged on their competition routine, which included a combination of cheering, tumbling (back tucks, back handsprings, back walkovers), stunting (pyramids, basket tosses, partner stunts), motion techniques and jumps, as well as their dance portion and overall appeal.

At the National Championships, the NRMF Jr. Pee Wee cheerleaders captured first place and the Gold Medal in their division. The NRMF Pee Wee and Midget cheerleaders took home second place and the Silver Medal in their respective divisions. The cheerleaders work incredibly hard to make it to the Pop Warner National Competition. Unrelenting dedication, combined with a committed coaching staff, skill, teamwork and the desire to be the best led NRMF to the Pop Warner National Championships. Anyone who attended the Pop Warner National Cheer Championships will undoubtedly agree that they witnessed a dynamic display of spirit, teamwork and athleticism from these amazing girls!